WUHAN, China — Venus Williams beat Roberta Vinci in a closely fought three set match Friday, settling a score on behalf of her sister Serena, to reach the Wuhan Open final. The seven-time Grand Slam-winner was a match point down to the Italian at one stage, but eventually saw her off in a final set tie break. Venus looked comfortable going into the third set, securing a 4-1 lead over Vinci. But the shock US Open finalist pushed back, evening the score before finally falling to the American veteran 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4). It was Vinci's second consecutive semifinal meet against a member of the Williams family, after downing world No. 1 Serena in the US Open, an upset that denied her a calendar-year Grand Slam and a record-equaling 22nd major title. “If I could I would give this win to Serena at the US Open, but it doesn't work like that in tennis,” Venus said on court after the match. Williams will face Wimbledon finalist Garbine Muguruza Saturday. Muguruza downed Germany's Angelique Kerber in two sets 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), despite falling during the second set tie break and injuring her ankle. Berdych in semis In Shenzhen, top-seeded Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic defeated countryman Jiri Vesely 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of Shenzhen Open Friday. Berdych will take on third-seeded Tommy Robredo in the semifinals after the Spaniard beat Simone Bolelli of Italy 1-6, 6-2, 6-4. Second-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia ended South Korean Hyeon Chung's run in the tournament with a 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory in their quarterfinal and will next face Guillermo Garcia-Lopez Saturday after the Spaniard got a walkover against injured Adrian Mannarino. Vekic-Hibino final In Uzbekistan, Donna Vekic of Croatia beat Evgenia Rodina or Russia 7-5, 6-1 Friday to set up a Tashkent Open final against Nao Hibino of Japan. The 19-year-old Vekic won last year's Malaysian Open and has been ranked as high as 62nd in the world, but is now 137th after a disappointing season. Hibino beat Bojana Jovanovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-4, staving off a late comeback after her opponent bounced back from 4-1 down to level the second set at 4-4. Kyrgios beats Karlovic In Kuala Lumpur, Nick Kyrgios won the key points in both tiebreakers to beat third-seeded Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) Friday in the quarterfinals of the Malaysian Open. Kyrgios served 11 aces, two less than Karlovic as both players held serve throughout the match. The 20-year-old Kyrgios will play second-seeded Feliciano Lopez, who needed two hours to beat eighth-seeded Vasek Pospisil 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2. Benjamin Becker upset fourth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 7-6 (3) and will take on either top-seeded David Ferrer or Mikhail Kukushkin in the other semifinal Saturday. — Agencies
