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Sara Sorribes Tormo extended her winning streak to seven in Mexico, as she reached the semi-finals of the Monterrey Open on Friday. The Spaniard defeated Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-3, 7-5 in the quarter-finals. In the penultimate round, Sorribes Tormo will face Leylah Fernandez.
The Canadian defeated Viktoria Kuzmova 7-5, 6-3 in their quarter-final match. This is also Fernandez’s best result – so far – in Monterrey, bettering her previous best of making it to the last-eight, in 2020.
The 18-year-old is yet to drop a set in the tournament this year. Post-match, speaking about her opponent – who saved four match points – Fernandez said, “It was definitely tough. She went through qualies, she’s in the quarterfinals, and obviously, she wants to win.
She has a lot of experience playing in singles and in doubles, but I was very happy that I found a way and got through to the next round”. Then, speaking about her tactics when she was facing match points but wasn’t able to convert them, Fernandez added, “After losing the first few match points, I tried to change it up, change the way I was thinking.
I knew that she was going to fight until the end. I tried to do the same thing, and on my fifth match point, I was able to execute the plan that I had”.
Monterrey Open: Sara Sorribes Tormo's consistent march
In the bottom half of the draw, qualifier Viktorija Golubic and eighth seed Ann Li have set up the other semi-final.
Golubic defeated fellow qualifier, Anna Kalinskaya 6-2, 6-4. Li upset the third seed Saisai Zheng 7-5, 6-1 in an hour and 48 minutes. “…Another tough match under my belt, which is good, it helps with the confidence,” Li said.
“I was doing a little bit too much in the beginning, and I think trying to find the balance between being more patient and staying as aggressive as I can, that was kind of the key for me”. Following Zheng’s exit, Sara Sorribes Tormo is now the highest seed left in the Monterrey Open draw.