NANCHANG, China - Second seed Wang Qiang continued on course to her first career WTA title at the Jiangxi Open, as she defeated compatriot Liu Fangzhou to reach the semifinals, 6-3, 6-0.
After falling behind 2-0 in the opening set, the World No.78 outclassed her 22-year-old compatriot by winning 12 of the next 13 games to advance to her second career WTA semifinal.
Though both players landed just 49% of their first serves in the match, the similarities between the two ended there.
Liu's effort was hampered by some erratic tennis off the ground, as the World No.139 tallied up 30 unforced errors to just 10 winners in her first career quarterfinal match at WTA level.
On the other side of the net, Wang played tidy tennis, hitting 19 winners to juat 14 unforced, and converted six of the 10 break points she held to move safely through to the last four in just 62 minutes.
Up next, the 28-year-old will face Poland's Magda Linette, as the No.3 seed survived a stern test from 17-year-old Australian Open junior champion Liang En-shou, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, to reach her first semifinal in a WTA International event in over a year.
"Maybe she's not experienced...but she played great. She came out and played like she belonged here already," Linette said of her younger foe. "I already knew her because I saw she won in Australia, so I was expecting a very tough match and it was."
Linette has won all three career meetings between the two players, but needed to come from a set down to see through two of those victories.
"I know Qiang for a long time, because we've played a couple of times. I just [know] it's going to be a tough match."
