Kiki Bertens has sealed her place in the semi-finals of the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy after beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The No.2 seed saw off the Russian 6-2 3-6 6-0 in their quarter-final to set up a last-four showdown against fourth seed Aryna Sabalenka.
Related: Bertens Shocks Halep In Cincinnati
Dutch star Bertens eased into a one-set lead before being pegged back in the second. She then closed out the third to seal the match without dropping a game in the decider.
Bertens takes on Sabalenka next after she overcame Ekaterina Alexandrova earlier on Friday.
Meanwhile, the WTA has announced several changes to the 2019 calendar, with a new WTA Premier event in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, which marks the start of this season’s Asian swing.
The new tournament will take place the week following the US Open in September and the governing body has said it will offer $1million in prize money in 2019 and then $1.5million in 2020.
It has also been announced the Ladies Championship Lausanne will be staged in Switzerland the week after Wimbledon, starting on July 15, and the Baltic Open will take place in Jurmala, Latvia from July 22.
Alongside new tournaments being announced, it has also been revealed Connecticut Open in New Haven will not take place this year.
The tournament has been a part of the WTA calendar for 21 years but a statement on the WTA website said it can no longer go ahead because organisers say the “financial model became unviable without a title sponsor”.
