WTA roundup: Qinwen Zheng knocks out top seed in Abu Dhabi

Qinwen Zheng of China dominated No. 1 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open on Friday in the United Arab Emirates.

Zheng hit four aces without a double fault, won 25 of 31 first-service points (80.6 percent) and saved all four break points she faced.

That leaves No. 2 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland as the highest remaining seed after she bested American Shelby Rogers 7-6 (5), 6-2. Bencic will face Brazilian sixth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, who rallied past Kazakh third seed Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in two hours and four minutes.

Rybakina racked up 19 aces but Haddad Maia broke her save three times in five opportunities while saving four of five break points herself.

Zheng will face Russian eighth seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia in the semifinals. Samsonova beat countrywoman and No. 4 seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-3, 6-3.

Upper Austria Ladies Linz

No. 1 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece staved off a tough challenge in the second-set tiebreaker to oust fifth seed Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-3, 7-6 (8) in the quarterfinals in Linz, Austria.

Vekic moved ahead 6-3 in the tiebreaker before Sakkari saved three straight set points and tied it 6-6. Vekic went up 7-6 and 8-7 but Sakkari answered each time. The Greek, who had five aces, then won two more points to put the match to bed.

Sakkari will face another Croatian foe in the semifinal after No. 6 seed Petra Martic defeated Denmark's Clara Tauson 6-4, 7-5.

No. 8 seed Anastasia Potapova of Russia rallied for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 triumph over Germany's Anna-Lena Friedsam. In the semis, she'll draw Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, who advanced after quarterfinal opponent Dalma Galfi of Hungary retired down 4-1 in their first set.