Karolina Pliskova ends Katie Boulter’s run in Tianjin

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Karolina Pliskova celebrates

Top seed Karolina Pliskova had to come from a set down to beat Katie Boulter and reach the semi-finals of the Tianjin Open.

World No 101 Boulter won the opening set and found herself a 2-0 up in the decider, but the former world No 1 bounced back to win 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 in over two hours.

Boulter will break into the world top 100 for the first time on the back of her quarter-final run and Pliskova had nothing but praise for the 22-year-old after the match.

“After those two matches which she won [in the earlier rounds], I think she was feeling pretty good. But I put on the speed in the second and third set and it was just enough,” the Czech said.

“I did some aces and played more aggressive, I thought, and she didn’t have much time to play her game and that was the difference.”

Next up is Timea Bacsinszky after the Swiss ended Aryna Sabalenka’s hopes of qualifying for the year-end WTA Finals with a 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5) win.

Caroline Garcia and Su-Wei Hsieh will line up in the other semi-final after both their opponents retired midway through the second set.

Second seed Garcia booked her place in the last eight when Petra Martic called it quits while being 6-2, 1-0 behind while Hsieh was 6-2, 4-0 up when Elise Mertens retired.

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