WTA roundup: Haddad Maia eases into Cleveland semis, Navarro battles through

Beatriz Haddad Maia, the top seed from Brazil, achieved a swift victory in the quarter-finals of Tennis in the Land on Thursday in Cleveland, defeating French competitor Clara Burel in just 75 minutes with a score of 6-2, 6-2.

Haddad Maia demonstrated exceptional performance, winning 21 out of 27 first-service points, which equates to 77.8%, and securing 12 of her 22 first-return points, or 54.5%. She recorded two aces and successfully broke Burel's serve five times out of 13 opportunities.

In the semi-finals, Haddad Maia will compete against Czech third seed Katerina Siniakova, who overcame American sixth seed Peyton Stearns with a scoreline of 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Meanwhile, fifth seed Anastasia Potapova from Russia advanced effortlessly with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Romania's Ana Bogdan. Potapova will now face American McCartney Kessler, who continued her impressive run by defeating Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-2, following her upset of fourth seed Xinyu Wang from China on Wednesday.

In the Abierto GNP Seguros 2024, New Zealand's Lulu Sun triumphed over Russia's Erika Andreeva with a score of 6-4, 6-3, securing her place in the semi-finals in Monterrey, Mexico.

Sun, who made an unexpected journey to the Wimbledon quarter-finals last month, served eight aces without committing a double fault and won 28 out of 34 first-service points, achieving an impressive 82.4%.

Sun's next challenge will be against third seed Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, who defeated seventh seed Yue Yuan of China with a score of 7-5, 7-6(3).

Additionally, second seed Emma Navarro from the United States triumphed over ninth seed Magdalena Frech of Poland with a score of 6-7(3), 6-0, 6-2. Navarro is set to face Czech teenager Linda Noskova, who successfully managed to defeat Ukrainian fifth seed Elina Svitolina with a score of 6-4, 6-4 in the final match on Thursday night.