PARIS - Fourth seed Sofia Kenin claimed her maiden French Open semi-final spot as she fought to a 6-4 4-6 6-0 victory against fellow American Danielle Collins on Wednesday.
The Australian Open champion was kept on her toes for two sets by an opponent who had beaten her in their previous encounters before strolling through the decider to set up a clash with Czech seventh seed Petra Kvitova.
Collins seemed bothered by midriff pains in the third set, looking unable to give her maximum effort in the finale on court Philippe Chatrier.
After a solid start on both sides, Collins served a woeful double fault to hand Kenin the first break of the match, and a 3-2 lead.
She held serve and set up another break point at 4-2 but Collins saved it to stay in contention.
Kenin was, however, solid on her service games and she bagged the opening set when her opponent's return sailed wide.
Grand Slammin' Sonya!@SofiaKenin knows when to bring her best tennis.#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/tHIV5v0CU1
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) October 7, 2020
It was the first time Kenin took a set against Collins in four encounters, and the fourth seed kept her momentum, breaking again for 3-2 in the second set as her unseeded opponent smacked a forehand long.
But this time, Collins hit back to level for 3-3 and she started to threaten Kenin's serve, eventually breaking again to level.
The comeback was short-lived, though, as Collins quickly fell 4-0 behind in the decider before taking a medical timeout, holding her midriff as she went off the court for treatment.
Kenin easily won the remaining two games.
Reuters