Quarterfinal Friday Frenzy

Top seed Anhelina Kalinina learned from past losses that top players never give up. Using that experience, she came back after trailing fifth seed Diane Parry by a set and 4-2 to win 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals. After the match, she jokingly shared with fans that Parry’s slice was far superior to her coach-husband’s, who hit slices to her in warmups.

UT junior Sabina Zeynalova and partner Maya Joint, who will join the Longhorns in the fall, played a tough match against the top seeds and nearly pulled off the upset. After Zeynalova and Joint surged to take the first set, Oksana Kalashnikova and Nadiia Kichenok rallied to take the second and force a 10-point match tiebreak. The Longhorns came back several times and saved two match points, but in the end the top seeds prevailed 11-9.

Two injury retirements occurred Friday: Third seed Danielle Collins was forced to retire her quarterfinal match due to a low back injury after dropping the first set to sixth seed Wang Xiyu. Later, Anastasija Sevastova suffered a left knee injury when leading Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-4, 2-1 up a break of serve. She injured the knee when running down a ball at the net and stayed on the ground for several minutes. After a medical timeout to have it taped, she played one point, yelled out in pain and retired. She left the court in a wheelchair.

Eighth seed Yuan Yue and Wang Yafan fought toe-to-toe to see who would reach their second semifinal of the season. Yuan finally won out 6-3, 7-5.