STRASBOURG, France(AP) Ayumi Morita of Japan beat third-seeded Peng Shuai of China 7-5, 6-2 to reach the semifinals of the Strasbourg International on Thursday, leaving the clay-court tournament without any remaining seeded players.
Both players struggled to hold their serve, with Morita breaking Peng four times in each set and losing her own serve five times overall.
Morita next plays Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic, who advanced by beating Kristina Barrois of Germany 6-3, 7-6 (2) in a match halted by rain late in the second set.
Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine beat Stephanie Cohen-Aloro of France 7-5, 6-1.
I think it was more a lack of energy than any fatigue, and she is very good,'' Cohen-Aloro said.She doesn't make many mistakes and plays long.''
Kutuzova will next play France's Aravane Rezai, who rallied to beat Romania's Monica Niculescu 0-6, 6-1, 6-2 in a topsy-turvy match also interrupted by rain.
Niculescu cruised through the first set, breaking Rezai three times and dropping only three points on her serve without facing a break point. But Rezai took the second set in equally dominant fashion without losing a point on her first serve, and sped into a 3-0 lead in the decider before Niculescu finally held and then broke Rezai for 3-2 to get back in the match.
Rezai broke straight back and held for 5-2, then sealed victory on her first match point on Niculescu's serve.