Tianjin, China (SportsNetwork.com) - Heavy Chinese crowd favorite Peng Shuai and American Alison Riske were among Friday's quarterfinal winners at the inaugural Tianjin Open tennis event.
The second-seeded U.S. Open semifinalist Peng outlasted eighth-seeded Croat Ajla Tomljanovic 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 7-5, while a sixth-seeded Riske took out fourth-seeded fellow American Varvara Lepchenko 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 on the hardcourts at Tianjin International Tennis Center. The 24-year-old Riske is a native of Pennsylvania, while the Uzbekistanian-born Lepchenko resides in the "Keystone State."
Peng's semifinal opponent will be third-seeded Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic, while Riske will face China's Zheng Saisai on Saturday. The promising 17-year- old Bencic got past Taiwan's Su-Wei Hsieh 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, while Zheng outlasted Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 on Day 5.
This week's winner will claim $43,000.
