Navarro, Alexandrova, Sun advance to Monterrey semis

MONTERREY, Mexico -- Second-seeded Emma Navarro of the United States beat ninth-seeded Magdalena Frech of Poland 6-7 (3), 6-0, 6-2 on Thursday night to reach the Monterrey Open semifinals.

Navarro, 23, will face sixth-seeded Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic on Friday in the WTA 500 hard-court event at Sonoma Club. Noskova topped fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4 in the late match.

Navarro was the 2021 NCAA champion as a freshman at the University of Virginia and added her first WTA Tour title in January at Hobart. She lost to Diana Shnaider in May in Paris in the Trophee Clarins final.

Third-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia will face Lulu Sun of New Zealand in the other semifinal. Alexandrova beat seventh-seeded Yuan Yue of China 7-5, 7-6 (3), and Sun topped Erika Andreeva of Russia 6-4, 6-3.

Alexandrova, 29, won the last of her four career WTA Tour titles last year at Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. Noskova, 19, and Sun, 23, are winless on the tour.