Galina Voskoboeva reached her first career WTA semifinal on Friday, taking advantage of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova’s erratic serve to win 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 at the Baku Cup on Friday.
The second-seeded Pavlyuchenkova served up 27 double faults. The Russian had managed to win her opening match at the tournament despite 25 double faults.
Pavlyuchenkova missed a chance to serve out the first set, hitting three straight double faults to take the set into a tiebreaker that she won 7-5.
Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan was the sharper player in the next two sets, combining some fine passes with well-timed drop shots.
She broke serve for the ninth time in the match to claim victory.
Playing only her second WTA tournament this year, 165th-ranked Mariya Koryttseva also reached the semifinals by defeating Ukrainian compatriot Kateryna Bondarenko 7-5, 6-4.
Neither player managed to dominate in a scrappy match, but Koryttseva appeared better able to deal with the 100 F (38 C) heat.
Koryttseva served for the first set at 5-4, was broken but then broke again to lead 6-5. In the second set, seven of the 10 games went against serve before Koryttseva clinched victory.
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