Jessica Pegula battles back to beat Claire Liu and reach semi-finals at Seoul Open, Grigor Dimitrov through in Shanghai

Top seed Jessica Pegula battled back from a set down to beat Claire Liu in the battle of the Americans in Seoul, sealing the win with a bagel in a 4-6 6-3 6-0 win.

Liu, currently ranked No. 98 in the world, started well and broke her higher-ranked compatriot in just the second game of the match.

Whilst Pegula fought hard she couldn’t stop the final four games of the set all being breaks as Liu sealed it 6-4.

But Pegula stepped up a gear from that point, breaking Liu in the first game of the second set and finding another break in the last to force a decider.

And from that point it was far less of a contest, as Pegula showed all her class to seal the victory with a bagel.

Pegula will face the winner of the clash between Yanina Wickmayer and Polina Kudermetova.

Earlier in the day in the first quarter-final there was another American triumph as the unseeded Emina Bektas also came from a set down to beat Australia’s Kimberly Birrell 4-6 6-3 6-2.

Meanwhile at the Hong Kong Open, there were straight-sets victories for Anna Blinkova and Martina Trevisan as they beat Sara Sorribes Tormo and Elise Mertens respectively.

In the men’s tournament in Shanghai, Grigor Dimitrov continued his fine form by beating Nicolas Jarry in straight sets 7-6(2) 6-4 to progress to the last four.

The Bulgarian will face the winner of Andrey Rublev and Ugo Humbert.

In the other side of the draw, Sebastian Korda takes on Hubert Hurkacz in the last four.