BEIJING, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Karolina Muchova ended top seed Aryna Sabalenka's 15-match winning streak, while China's Zheng Qinwen defeated Mirra Andreeva in the China Open quarterfinals on Friday.
Despite facing two set points in the opening set and trailing 2-4 in the third, Muchova managed to secure a hard-fought victory 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-4.
This triumph marks Muchova's third consecutive win over the world No. 2, following her two semifinal victories in Roland Garros and Cincinnati last year.
"Very tough match, basically what I expected." Muchova said. "She's one of the best players playing her best tennis these days. "
"You really have to be ready to attack, because if you slice slow ball or something she's really going to smash you," she added.
Muchova will face No. 5 seed Zheng Qinwen, who just came back to defeat Mirra Andreeva 5-7, 6-0, 6-4 to make her first WTA 1000 semifinal.
The Chinese Olympic champion has thus won 20 of her last 22 matches since her first round exit at Wimbledon.
"The match is kind of out of my control. I never thought tonight's match being this tough," said Zheng. "But I'm still happy to win."
Speaking of the upcoming semifinal, Zheng lavished compliments on Muchova. "I think she is a smart player. She's good at taking advantage of the opponent's strikes to make powerful returns. I've played against her before and the game was really tough."
"I will certainly give my best tomorrow," the 21-year-old added. ■
