Canada's Fernandez advances to semifinal at Ningbo Open with win over Alexandrova

Canada's Leylah Fernandez moved closer to her second WTA title of the season with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova in quarterfinal action Friday at the Ningbo Open.

Fernandez evened her career record against Alexandrova at 3-3 after her second win over the Russian in as many weeks.

The 24-year-old from Laval, Que., was dominant after dropping the first set, scoring four breaks while surrendering none over the next two sets.

Fernandez has won 12 of her last 15 matches and earned her sixth career WTA title last month in Singapore.

The Canadian will next face Marie Bouzkova in the semifinals at the WTA 500 hardcourt tournament.

Bouzkova won their only other meeting in the first round of the 2019 Rogers Cup (now National Bank Open) in Toronto.

Top-ranked Elena Rybakina avoided a major upset as she was pushed to a deciding set by qualifier Katarzyna Kawa in the quarterfinals of the Ningbo Open on Friday.

Rybakina eventually made it through 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 to set up a semifinal meeting with Diana Shnaider and continue her Ningbo title defense.

The 128th-ranked Kawa was coming off a big upset win over Belinda Bencic and threatened another when she broke Rybakina's serve three times in a back-and-forth second set.

Sixth-seeded Shnaider beat fourth-seeded American Iva Jovic 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 and will now bid to reach the Ningbo final again after she was runner-up in 2023.

Earlier this week, Karolina Muchova secured the last spot at the season-ending WTA Finals after Marta Kostyuk retired in Ningbo with wrist pain and Iga Swiatek withdrew with a thigh injury.