Mertens, Kasatkina advance to semifinals at Silicon Valley Classic

The Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic resumed on Friday, with top seed Elise Mertens securing her spot in the semifinals after a tricky encounter with Yulia Putintseva.

Mertens overcame a second-set comeback from the eighth-seeded Putintseva to pull off the 6-3 7-6(8) victory, overcoming five double faults while saving three break points. The Belgian is hoping to win her second title of the year, after lifting the prevailing at the Gippsland Trophy earlier in the year.

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Awaiting Mertens in the semifinal is fourth seed Daria Kasatkina, who battled past Magda Linette in a thrilling 6-4 3-6 6-4 performance. The Russian saved five of ten break points faced, while converting six times on her opponent's serve. Kasatkina takes a 2-1 career lead into her semifinal match against Mertens, which will be played on Saturday.

In other quarterfinal action, Croatia's Ana Konjuh rallied from a set down to pull off a 3-6 6-2 6-0 victory over China's Zhang Shuai. The pair had met on two previous occasions, with Konjuh winning both in straight sets.

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