Putintseva wins over Shnaider to join Pegula, Keys and Samsonova in Adelaide semi-finals
The final quarter-final of the WTA 500 tournament in Adelaide has just been decided. Yulia Putintseva overcame Diana Shnaider (7-6, 6-7, 6-4 in 3h15 of play) on her seventh match point to qualify for the semi-finals.
She will face the number 1 seed, Jessica Pegula, who benefited from the withdrawal of her compatriot Ashlyn Krueger at 6-4, 2-0.
For her first tournament of the season, Pegula, who had to withdraw from her final group match at the Riyadh Masters due to a left knee injury, is back to her best and will already be playing in her first semi-final of the season.
Previously, the world No. 7 had defeated lucky loser Maria Sakkari in her second-round opener.
Pegula had never lost to the Kazakh in two previous encounters, but Jabeur was also unbeaten against Putintseva before facing her this week.
After Vekic and the Tunisian, this is a third consecutive victory for the world's 25th-ranked player, who is guaranteed to reach her highest ranking next Monday.
The other semi-final will pit Madison Keys against Liudmila Samsonova.
The American, who had already beaten Beatriz Haddad Maia and Jelena Ostapenko earlier in the tournament, dominated Daria Kasatkina without too much effort (6-1, 6-3), while the Russian eliminated Emma Navarro, seeded number 2 (6-4, 6-4).