sports
Svitolina, Bouchard through to semi-finals at Malaysian Open
Second seed Elina Svitolina reached the semi-finals of the Malaysian Open on Friday after knocking out Slovakian Kristina Kucova.
Despite a shaky start, the 21-year-old Ukrainian managed to storm past Kucova 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the quarter-finals.
Third seed Sabine Lisicki of Germany crashed out of the competition after failing to outpace Briton's 26-year-old Naomi Broady.
Broady, ranked 96th in the world, dispatched Lisicki 7-6 (7/4), 1-6, 7-5 in a tough match that lasted more than two hours.
She will square off against sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard on Saturday in the semi-finals after the 22-year-old Canadian defeated Turkey's Cagla Buyukakcay 6-1, 6-4 in a match that was delayed by rain.
Bouchard has been trying to put a difficult 2015 behind her and has been showing signs of returning to form recently.
She had cruised to the quarter-finals after trashing Kurumi Nara from Japan 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, China's Lin Zhu also advanced to the semi-finals after beating her fellow countrywoman Qiang Wang 6-3, 6-4.
The Chinese player will meet Svitolina in the semi-finals on Saturday. – AFP, March 5, 2016.
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