World No.111 Caroline Dolehide's stunning run through the WTA 1000 Guadalajara Open Akron will continue after the American pulled off a 3-6, 7-6(9), 6-3 comeback victory over Martina Trevisan of Italy in the quarterfinals on Thursday night.
Dolehide battled back from 6-3, 4-1 down and saved four match points in the second set on her way to a gritty 2-hour and 47-minute victory over Trevisan, a former Top 20 player and 2022 Roland Garros semifinalist.
Guadalajara 2023: Scores | Order of Play | Draws
"To be honest, I just had to find a way today to win," Dolehide said on court after her triumph. "When I was down those match points, I told myself 'Do what you practice,' which my coach tells me every single day of my life.
Photos: All of 2023's wins from match point down
"I just played with my kick, played with my best shots, and I ended up winning that set. It gave me a lot of confidence going into the third."
Rankings riser: The 25-year-old Dolehide, who cracked the Top 100 for the first time just this year and currently holds a career-high ranking of No.99, is into the first Hologic WTA Tour semifinal of her career, and at a WTA 1000 event to boot.
Dolehide is just the eighth player to reach a WTA 1000 semifinal while ranked outside the Top 100 since that tournament tier began in 2009. The last player ranked outside the Top 100 to go that far at a WTA 1000 event was two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who made the 2019 Cincinnati final ranked No.153.
Before this week, Dolehide's previous career-best singles results at tour level were quarterfinal finishes at Quebec City in 2017 and Monterrey earlier this year.
Read more: Garcia serves her way into first semifinal since March in Guadalajara
All-American semifinal: Dolehide will take on her fellow American Sofia Kenin in a semifinal between two unseeded players. Former World No.4 and 2020 Australian Open champion Kenin outlasted Leylah Fernandez in an earlier quarterfinal on Thursday.
Dolehide has won two of her three professional meetings with Kenin, which all took place at ITF Challenger events in the United States. They have not faced off since 2017.
A dream come true 💫#GDLOpenAKRON pic.twitter.com/ysRYN8K4vR
— wta (@WTA) September 22, 2023
Match moments:Â Trevisan eased through the first set, where she won 85 percent of her first-serve points and converted three of her six break points. The Italian kept her momentum to start the second set, where she led 4-1 before holding three consecutive match points at 6-5, 0-40.
But Dolehide erased those match points, eking into a tiebreak where the American initially led 6-3 and held five set points up through 8-8. Trevisan got through that gauntlet and held a fourth match point at 9-8, but Dolehide powered through the next three points, capturing the set on her sixth opportunity.
Dolehide used fiery groundstrokes to earn the only break of the third set and lead 3-1. The American served for the match at 5-3 but saw Trevisan swipe away five match points. However, the sixth time was the charm once again, with Dolehide finally closing out the win after a long Trevisan forehand.