Sabalenka and Mertens cruise to Upper Austria Ladies' semifinal

Aryna Sabalenka and Elise Mertens are through to the Upper Austria Ladies' semifinal after strong performances and victories on Friday.

Sabalenka and Mertens continued their spectacular run in Linz with two great performances on Friday booking places in the semifinal of the event. Elise Mertens stepped out onto the courts first and she was very convincing in her 6-4 6-1 victory over Kudermetova. It took her over an hour and a half but despite the lengthy match, the victor was never really in doubt. Mertens had issues early in the first set with Kudermetova taking a 3-0 lead early. Slowly but surely Mertens battles back first to tie the score before taking the lead and winning the opening set 6-4. The 2nd set was even more impressive as Mertens took an early break and never looked back cruising to a 6-1 2nd set finish.

Aryna Sabalenka took on Dodin from France who has been one of the best indoor performers this year. At first, it looked like Dodin had a chance as she took an early break but Sabalenka countered immediately in the next game making it 2-2. After that, the Belarussian played better but Dodin held on for a game before surrendering her serve in her next service game giving Sabalenka the chance to win the opening set 6-3 which she did. The start fo the 2nd set was very exciting as Sabalenka had an early break point but failed to use it. The match continued until 3-3 when Dodin retired from the match.