Sasnovich stuns Stephens in Seoul
Sloane Stephens was well fancied at the Korea Open, but the American's run ended at the quarter-finals thanks to Aliaksandra Sasnovich,
Aliaksandra Sasnovich continued her fine run at the Korea Open by upsetting the odds to defeat Sloane Stephens and reach the semi-finals.
Despite being ranked 104 places lower than Stephens in the rankings, Belarusian qualifier Sasnovich - who had already beaten Alexandra Dulgheru and Maria Rybarikova this week - secured a 6-3 6-2 victory in Seoul on Friday.
Sasnovich - who has yet to win a title on the main WTA Tour - raced into a 4-0 lead in the opener and, although she showed signs of nerves to allow Stephens back into the set, she served out when leading 5-3.
And there was to be no fight back from third seed Stephens, who meekly exited the tournament after surrendering the second set in a little over half an hour.
Next up is second seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, who overcame a second-set blip to defeat fifth seed Mona Barthel 6-4 3-6 6-1.
On the other side of the draw, top seed Irina-Camelia Begu had little trouble in her 6-4 7-5 defeat of Johanna Larsson and now faces Alison Van Uytvanck in the semis following her 6-1 4-6 6-2 victory against Elizaveta Kulichkova.