KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Magda Linette of Poland knocked out the last remaining seed in the Malaysian Open when she beat No. 5 Duan Ying Ying of China 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1 in the quarterfinals on Friday.
One match earlier, No. 6 Wang Qiang of China lost to compatriot Han Xinyun 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4.
Linette’s first WTA semifinals since reaching the 2015 Japan Open final will be against Nao Hibino of Japan.
Hibino took out Lesley Kerkhove of the Netherlands 7-6 (4), 6-3. She’s chasing her second career title, after Tashkent in 2015. Linette won their only previous match in Tokyo last year.
Han and Ashleigh Barty of Australia have a shot at their first career singles final. They have never met.
Barty beat Zhang Kai-Lin 6-0, 7-6 (2) as China’s presence in the draw was cut from four players to one. Barty faces the last local on Saturday.
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