We will have an all-Italian clash between Camila Giorgi and Karin Knapp and a match between the tournament’s sole seed Karolina Pliskova and Anna-Lena Friedsam in the semifinals of the $250,000 Generali Ladies Linz.
The first to make the final four was the 59th-ranked recent Tashkent champion Knapp, who avenged her straight-set US Open loss to Tsvetana Pironkova by defeating the Bulgarian 6-4 4-6 6-4, despite making eight double faults. The world No.42 Giorgi was the next to take stage, setting up a meeting with her countrywoman by beating Marina Erakovic 6-3 7-5.
Later, the world No.94 Friedsam, qualifier who had defeated third seed Dominika Cibulkova in the first round, earned her maiden career semifinal with a 4-6 6-2 6-3 triumph over Stefanie Voegele. Her next opponent will be the seventh-seeded Pliskova, who wrapped up the semifinal field by taking out Madison Brengle 6-4 6-4.
The tournament’s two biggest names were Eugenie Bouchard and Ana Ivanovic, but they hadn’t even played their second-round matches, having withdrawn to save themselves for the WTA Championships in Singapore. Still, our photographer Jimmie48 managed to take photos of the stars while they were still there.
