Linda Fruhvirtová Falls Short in Semifinals of Ningpo Tennis Tournament

Eighteen-year-old Czech tennis player Linda Fruhvirtová will not play for the second title in her career in Ningpo, China. In today’s semi-final, she lost 4:6 and 1:6 to Russian Diana Šnejderová, who is waiting for her final premiere on the WTA circuit.

Fruhvirtová entered the match well and took the lead 2:0, but Šnajderová turned the score around with four points in a row.

The native of Prague then avoided four set points, but she could not prevent the loss of the first set.

In the second set, Fruhvirtová, who won her only title so far last year in Chennai, was not enough for her opponent and did not manage the second semifinal on the WTA circuit.

Nevertheless, thanks to the performance in China, where she ended a streak of nine defeats, she will return to the top 100 ranking.

Nineteen-year-old Šnajderová followed up her quarterfinal victory over Petra Kvitová. In the first final in her career, she will play against Uns Džábirová from Tunisia, who defeated Nadia Podoroska from Argentina 6:3, 1:6, 6:2, defeating Kateřina Siniaková.

Lehečka is in the quarterfinals

Czech tennis player Jiří Leheček defeated Yegor Gerasimov from Belarus 6:2, 7:6 in the second round of the tournament in Astana and advanced to the quarterfinals. His next opponent will be the 120th player in the world Hamad Medjedovic from Serbia.

Lehečka, who had a free draw in the first round, won the first set without any problems in 28 minutes. The second set was evenly matched for a long time and had to be decided by a tie-break. In it, the tournament four had a clear upper hand and won it for themselves by a ratio of 7:3.

Lehečka, who is ranked 29th in the ATP rankings, will face Medjedović for the first time. Against the 20-year-old Serb, he will aim for his third semi-final appearance of the season.

He reached the last four this year in Doha and in Winston-Salem, where he eventually scored his only advance to the finals so far.

Šwiateková surprisingly finished the game

The second tennis player in the world ranking, Iga Šwiateková from Poland, finished in the quarterfinals at the tournament in Tokyo. The first-seeded player lost 2:6, 6:2 and 4:6 to Veronica Kuděrmětová from Russia.

Twenty-six-year-old Kuděrmětová scored her first win over the recent world number one on her fifth attempt. So far, she hasn’t played a set against the twenty-two-year-old Šwiateková and won only three games in two matches with her this year.

“But I didn’t have any special strategy against her. I just tried to convince myself that I could beat her, and I finally succeeded,” Kuděrmětová said on the WTA website.

In the semi-finals, she will meet thirty-two-year-old compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who knocked out Linda Nosková in the second round and is aiming for her third final appearance in Tokyo. She unsuccessfully tried for the title in Japan in 2017 and 2019.

The other semi-final pair consists of American Jessica Pegual and Maria Sakkari of Greece, who can follow up on last week’s triumph in Guadalajara in Japan and win the title for the second tournament in a row.

Women’s Tennis Tournament in Ning-po, China (hard surface, endowment $259,303):

Singles – semi-finals: Šnajderová (Russia) – L. Fruhvirtová (Czech Republic) 6:4, 6:1.

Men’s Tennis Tournament in Astana (hard surface, $1,017,850 subsidy):

Singles – 1st round: Korda (5-USA) – Popyrin (Aust.) 7:6 (7:5), 6:7 (4:7), 6:4, Ofner (Austria) – Fucsovics (Germany) ) 2:6, 6:2, 6:3. 2nd round: Lightweight (4-Czech Republic) – Gerasimov (Belarus) 6:2, 7:6 (7:3), Mannarino (6-Fr.) – Kačmazov (Russia) 6:2, 5:7, 6:3, Rodionov (Austria) – Baez (2-Arg.) 6:2, 6:4, Medjedovic (Serb.) – Shevchenko (Russia) 6:4, 6:4.

Tokyo Women’s Tennis Tournament (hard court, $780,637 endowment):

Singles – quarterfinals: V. Kuděrmětová (8-Rus.) – Šwiateková (1-Pol.) 6:2, 2:6, 6:4, Pavlyučenkova – Alexandrová (both Rus.) 6:2, 7:5, Pegulaová (2-USA) – Kasatkinova (6-Russia) 6:1, 6:0, Sakkariova (4-Greece) – Garcia (5-Fr.) 6:2, 6:2.