No. 3 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia rallied to reach the semifinals in Tokyo with a 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 comeback win Friday against No. 8 Alexandra Eala of the Philippines at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
The pair combined for 88 winners and saved a combined 16 of 19 break points in a thrilling quarterfinal clash. Shnaider seized the lead by breaking Eala’s serve in the third game of the deciding set and finished the match in 2 hours and 52 minutes.
Only two of Shnaider’s 27 unforced errors came in the third set as she advanced to face Slovakian teenager Mia Pohankova, who posted a 7-6 (3), 6-3 win against Alycia Parks.
World No. 1 and top seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan withdrew due to a neck injury, giving Canada’s Leylah Fernandez a win via walkover. Her opponent in the WTA 500 tournament semifinals will be Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova, who outlasted Maya Joint of Australia 7-5, 5-7, 6-1.
Guangzhou Open
Teenager Xinran Sun thrilled the home crowd in China and recorded a hard-fought 7-5, 7-6 (2) victory against Claire Liu to become the fourth-youngest semifinalist on the WTA Tour in the last 20 years.
At 16 years and 95 days old, the 2026 U.S. Open girls’ singles champion trailed only Coco Gauff, Julieta Pareja and Donna Vekic on that list. Up next for Sun is Britain’s Harriet Dart, who rallied for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win against No. 5 Paula Badosa of Spain in the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 event.
The other semifinal will see Spain’s Kaitlin Quevedo take on No. 4 Lilli Tagger of Austria. Quevedo eliminated Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann 7-6 (2), 6-3 and Tagger held off China’s Han Shi 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in 2 hours and 38 minutes.
–Field Level Media
