Defending champion Bencic powers into Charleston semis

Swiss Belinda Bencic, the No 4 seed, beat Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, the No 7 seed, 6-3, 6-3 to move into the last four of the Charleston Open at the Family Circle Tennis Center on Friday night.

Bencic improves to 17-5 lifetime at Charleston and stretches her winning streak to nine on the green clay of South Carolina. She improved to 4-3 against Alexandrova and avenged a loss to the Russian at Miami two weeks ago.

“I’m really happy with today’s win,” she said. “I definitely felt like it was a completely different match than in Miami. I thought I served much better I think maybe she didn’t serve as well as in Miami and it kind of turned around – it’s some some things here and there that can turn around the match.

“I was up all the match, but still, I always felt like a little bit on the edge, to keep to keep the lead and she’s always a player that can just turn on like this and just take your lead – she’s very dangerous, always.”

Bencic on relationship with clay – it’s complicated

The 11th-ranked Swiss has put up a 15-4 record on clay since the start of 2022, but she says that she is still feeling her way on the surface.

“It’s complicated,” she said. “I didn’t really like clay before, I felt like last year in Charleston that made me change my mind a little bit. But maybe it’s also that I really liked the green clay and the red clay not so much yet. I think I first have to make a good relationship here with the clay and then move on to Europe over the red clay and also try to do better there.

“It’s tricky for me but I feel like Charleston with the green clay is always a good transition for me from the hardcourts to the clay.”

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Tennis Majors

Bencic, ranked No 11, will play the winner of the match between American Jessica Pegula, the top seed, and Spaniard Paula Badosa, the No 12 seed, next.

The Swiss won against Canadian qualifier Katherine Sebov (6-0, 6-3) and American Shelby Rogers (4-6, 7-5, 6-2) in the previous rounds of the Charleston tournament.

Earlier in the tournament, Alexandrova, ranked No 17, defeated Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (6-1, 6-3) and Austrian Julia Grabher (6-4, 6-2).

Charleston WTA 500, other last eight results (Family Circle Tennis Center, clay, USD 780.637, most recent results first):

• Jessica Pegula vs. Paula Badosa
• Daria Kasatkina (3) beat Madison Keys (9): 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2
• Ons Jabeur (2) beat Anna Kalinskaya: 6-0, 4-1 ret.