NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) Fourth-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic held off lucky-loser Lesia Tsurenko of the Ukraine 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) on Friday in the Connecticut Open semifinals.
Second-seeded defending champion Petra Kvitova, also from the Czech Republic, faced third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the second semifinal.
''It's going to be a tough finals match, which it should be,'' Safarova said.
Safarova, from Czech Republic, had a 4-1 leads in the second before Tsurenko rallies.
''I started to rush a little bit and I was not really concentrating in the moment,'' Safarova said. ''She started pressing me and the whole momentum started to shift.''
Safarova took a 5-4 lead, but Tsurenko, who replaced top-seeded Simona Halep in the field after losing in qualifying, staved off elimination and took a 6-5 lead.
