Kasatkina saves match points in Ningbo; Krejcikova retires vs. Andreeva

No.5 seed Daria Kasatkina came through a thrilling quarterfinal at the Ningbo Open to make her sixth semifinal of 2024, saving two match points in the deciding tiebreak to edge Yulia Putintseva 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(6) in 2 hours and 41 minutes.

Mirra Andreeva also advanced to the last four when No.4 seed Barbora Krejcikova retired trailing 7-6(5), 3-2 due to a back injury. The 17-year-old will play her third semifinal of the season.

Ningbo: Scores | Draws | Order of play

Kasatkina also trailed 4-1 in the first set and 4-2 in the third before winning her second match in three encounters with Putintseva. She had previously defeated the Kazakhstani in the second round of Wimbledon 2018, but fallen 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the third round of Madrid in May.

"I didn't want three sets, for sure," said Kasatkina after her 23rd match of the season to go the distance. "But I was expecting something like that, because always when I play against Yulia something like that happens.

"I feel the whole match I was always down in the score, but I knew I would have a chance to come back, and I did. Tennis is like that. If you fight, 99% of the time you get your chance. I thought the level was pretty high -- we fought our butts off through this match."

Kasatkina will next face No.8 seed Paula Badosa, who defeated No.6 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 6-2.

A steal for Kasatkina: Few of the statistics favored Kasatkina in the match. She won fewer points than Putintseva (95 to 104), struck fewer winners (33 to 37) and committed more unforced errors (47 to 43). The World No.11 was also almost undone by eight double faults, including two in the third-set tiebreak.

However, Kasatkina was able to find her best tennis in crucial passages of play. Down 4-2 in the third set, she cranked up her game to its most aggressive, unleashing on her forehand as she inched her way back to 4-4. A winner off that wing also saved one of two match points down 6-4 in the tiebreak.

Putintseva's variety was on full show throughout, and she delighted the crowd with delicately spun volleys and down-the-line redirections as well as her signature drop shot. However, the latter was as much weakness as strength this time. In the opener, a series of poorly executed drop shots allowed Kasatkina to find easy winners to turn the set around. As the match went on, Kasatkina's speed and anticipation enabled her to put away even the better versions of the shot.

Mirra Andreeva sets first meeting with Muchova: The bottom-half semifinal will be a first-time encounter between Andreeva and Karolina Muchova, who rounded out Friday's action with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 defeat of No.7 seed Anna Kalinskaya.

An edgy first set saw Andreeva break Krejcikova for 4-3, and again for 6-5, only to immediately throw in an error-strewn service game of her own both times to get broken back. However, she played the more solid tiebreak, with her backhand rising to the occasion throughout it. After an exchange of breaks early in the second set, Krejcikova took an off-court medical timeout trailing 2-1, and was forced to pull the plug two games later.

Andreeva now leads her head-to-head against Krejcikova 3-1, but two of those wins have come via retirement. In the first round of Wimbledon 2023, the Czech was forced to pull out trailing 6-3, 4-0 due to a left leg injury.

Muchova continued a spectacular return from wrist surgery by notching her third win in three meetings with Kalinskaya, and her second Top 20 win of the year. The 28-year-old returned to action in June and has only contested eight events so far in 2024, but has now reached at least the semifinals four times.