KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Top-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia rallied to beat Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 Friday and reach the semifinals of the Malaysian Open.
The 10th-ranked Cibulkova saved 20 break points to prevail over her sixth-seeded opponent after more than 2 ½ hours.
Cibulkova will play third-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who defeated Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey, 6-4, 6-4.
In the other semifinal, second-seeded Shuai Zhang of China will take on Donna Vekic of Croatia.
The 45th-ranked Zhang fought off 10 break points to beat Magda Linette of Poland 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.
Vekic, who is yet to win a title on the circuit, hit 10 aces to overcome fourth-seeded Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria 6-4, 7-5.
