The lucky-loser entry Lesia Tsurenko beat fifth-seeded Karolina Pliskova, 6-2, 6-2, on Thursday in the Connecticut Open quarterfinals in New Haven. Tsurenko lost in qualifying but got into the field when top-seeded Simona Halep withdrew because of an injury. In the semifinals Tsurenko will face fourth-seeded Lucie Safarova, who beat Dominika Cibulkova, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5. In the other quarterfinals, second-seeded Petra Kvitova, the defending champion, beat seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, 7-5, 6-4, and third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki topped Caroline Garcia, 6-3, 6-0.
u25a0 Steve Johnson reached the Winston-Salem Open semifinals in North Carolina when Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan withdrew because of a back injury.