Romania's Cristian to play compatriot Halep in Linz Open singles semis

Romanian tennis player Jaqueline Cristian on Wednesday progressed to the singles semi-finals of the 189,708-euro Linz Open WTA 250 tournament after defeating Russian Veronika Kudermetova 6-3 7-6 (5).

Cristian, 23, world number 100, who got to the main draw as a lucky loser, made it to her first WTA semi-final after almost two hours of play (1 h 54 min). In the penultimate act her opponent will be compatriot Simona Halep, agerpres reports.

Kudermetova won her first meet with Cristian in the first round of the 2017 Monzon ITF tournament 6-1 6-1. The Romanian got her revenge in 2020, in the Fed Cup, with a 7-5 6-3 win.

Cristian won 8,145 euros and 122 WTA singles points.

Late this October, Halep defeated Cristian 6-1 6-1 in the Transylvania Open quarter-finals.

While the second semi-final in Linz will be entirely Romanian, the first will be entirely American, as Danielle Collins will face Alison Riske.

Third-seeded Collins defeated Belgian Alison van Uytvanck on Wednesday 7-5 6-3, while eighth-seeded Riske defeated Chinese Xinyu Wang 6-3 7-5.