BEIJING—Simona Halep took a step nearer overhauling Garbine Muguruza as world number one when the Romanian raced into the semi-finals of the China Open on Friday. The second-ranked Halep eased past Russia’s unseeded Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-1 in Beijing and will face compatriot Sorana Cirstea or Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in the last four. Halep is in red-hot form and claimed the scalp of former number one Maria Sharapova in the previous round -- beating the Russian at the eighth attempt. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Japan, Belgium’s David Goffin battled back from a seemingly impossible first-set position against Frenchman Richard Gasquet on Friday to reach the Japan Open semi-finals. Goffin now faces eighth seed Diego Schwartzman from Argentina, who put an end to the impressive run of world number 46 Steve Johnson.

Source: The Standard October 06, 2017 07:18 UTC