Suarez Navarro rolls; Bouchard loses to Kuznetsova in Portugal
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Oeiras, Portugal (SportsNetwork.com) - Reigning two-time runner-up Carla Suarez Navarro booked a spot in Friday's semifinals, while two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova upended second seed Eugenie Bouchard at the $250,000 Portugal Open, a clay court tune-up for the French Open.
The top-seeded Suarez Navarro, of Spain, subdued Slovenian Polona Hercog 6-1, 6-3, while the seventh-seeded former top-five star Kuznetsova routed the young Canadian Bouchard 6-4, 6-1.
Suarez Navarro lost to Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in last year's Oeiras finale.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Thursday's other quarterfinals saw eighth-seeded Russian Elena Vesnina knock out fourth-seeded Italian Roberta Vinci 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-5 and Romanian qualifier Irina-Camelia Begu erase Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 7-6 (8-6).
Friday's semifinals will pit Suarez Navarro against Begu and Kuznetsova versus her fellow Russian Vesnina, guaranteeing all all-European final.
This week's titlist will pocket $48,000.