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Yastremska maintains Lyon Open run amid Ukraine-Russia crisis
Written by Sports Desk. Posted in WTA. | 04 March 2022 | 943 Views
Tags: Tennis, Alison Van Uytvanck, Shuai Zhang, Sorana Cirstea

Dayana Yastremska maintained her emotional run at the Lyon Open by beating fifth seed Jasmine Paolini in straight sets to book a semi-final spot. 

The Ukrainian wildcard secured her place in the last four on Friday with a 6-4 7-6 (7-3) victory over the Italian amid the war with Russia in her home country. 

The 21-year-old fled Odessa with her sister last week, separating from her parents in the process, and has spoken about her desire to honour those back in Ukraine with a title. 

She will face second seed Sorana Cirstea after the Romanian made short work of Anna Bondar with a 6-3 6-3 victory. 

Elsewhere, Caroline Garcia toppled another seed after fighting back to beat Alison van Uytvanck 4-6 6-3 7-5. The home favourite knocked out top seed Camila Giorgi in the first round and has a semi-final clash against Zhang Shuai to look forward to. 

Zhang did not have to sweat to make her place after Vitalia Diatchenko was forced to retire at three games down in the first set through injury.