4th-seeded Nao Hibino advances to Tashkent Open semifinals

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP) Defending champion Nao Hibino reached the semifinals of the Tashkent Open on Thursday, advancing when Lesia Tsurenko retired after

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP) Defending champion Nao Hibino reached the semifinals of the Tashkent Open on Thursday, advancing when Lesia Tsurenko retired after losing the first set 7-6 (6).

Tsurenko, who won last week's Guangzhou Open, had been on a seven match winning streak.

Hibino, the fourth-seeded player from Japan, will play ninth-seeded Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic in the semifinals. Allertova defeated second-seeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 7-5, 6-4.

Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine will face Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the other semifinal match. Kozlova beat Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 6-3, 6-3 and Pliskova eliminated Irina Khromacheva of Russia 6-3, 6-4.