Friedsam beats Voegele to join Italians Giorgi, Knapp in semifinals in Linz

Published February 05, 2015

Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany rallied to defeat Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 at the Generali Ladies on Friday to advance to her first career semifinal.

The 94th-ranked Friedsam, who won three qualifying matches and beat the third-seeded Dominika Cibulkova in the first round, came back from a break down in the third set and served two aces in the final game.

Friedsam will play either seventh-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic or Madison Brengle of the United States.

Earlier, Camila Giorgi defeated Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 6-3, 7-5 to set up an all-Italian semifinal against Karin Knapp.

Giorgi, who is ranked 42nd, dominated the opening set and recovered from losing three straight games early in the second to reach her third semifinal of the season.

The 59th-ranked Knapp defeated Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to reach her first semifinal since winning her maiden title in Tashkent last month.

Knapp overcame eight double-faults against the 44th-ranked Pironkova, who had beaten the Italian in straight sets at the U.S. Open.

Knapp failed to serve out the match at 5-3 and missed five match points in the next game before closing out the win.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/friedsam-beats-voegele-to-join-italians-giorgi-knapp-in-semifinals-in-linz