Cincinnati 2020: Friday's Order of Play and Match Points

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Ben Solomon

A WTA spokesperson said Thursday:

"Today was an important day to pause and think about how the tennis community can act for racial justice. Tomorrow, we will resume play at the iconic USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for the Western & Southern Open and then the upcoming US Open."

ORDER OF PLAY (all courts start 11:00 am)

GRANDSTAND
[14] Elise Mertens

(BEL) vs [4] [WC] (JPN)

COURT 10
[8] Johanna Konta (GBR) vs Victoria Azarenka

(BLR)
Followed by
[8] Lucie Hradecka (CZE) / Andreja Klepac (SLO) vs [3] Kveta Peschke (CZE) / Demi Schuurs (NED)
Viktoria Kuzmova (SVK) / (POL) vs [2] Nicole Melichar (USA) / Yifan Xu (CHN)

Today had me like- pic.twitter.com/R7qH4MfNy0
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) August 26, 2020

MATCH POINTS:
No.4 seed Naomi Osaka

reeled off nine games in a row to turn around her quarterfinal match against Anett Kontaveit, winning 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 to reach her first Western & Southern Open semifinal.

Osaka will take on Elise Mertens

for the third time on Friday - the pair’s head-to-head record is tied at one win apiece, with the Japanese player claiming the victory in their most recent encounter last year in Osaka.

No.14 seed Mertens dropped just four games in her quarterfinal victory against American qualifier Jessica Pegula

to book her maiden Premier 5 semifinal at Cincinnati.

Mertens had to make the transition from clay to hardcourts after reaching the final at the Prague Open, the tour’s second tournament in Europe after the five-month break.

Former champion Victoria Azarenka

has yet to drop a set this week in New York, and she’s the only unseeded player to book her place into the final four.

In her first WTA semifinal since April 2019, Azarenka will face No.8 seed Johanna Konta, who took down Maria Sakkari