Top seed Julia Goerges suffered a shock quarter-final defeat at the hands of Olga Danilovic at the Moscow River Cup on Friday, while a thigh injury ended Anastasija Sevastova's hopes.
Goerges – who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals before losing to Serena Williams – had not dropped a set prior to her last-eight clash, but she was comfortably beaten by Danilovic.
The world number 187 claimed the only break of the opening set, before dominating Goerges in the second to complete a 6-3 6-3 triumph.
She will meet Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the semis after Sevastova was forced to withdraw from the competition hours before their match.
Due to a Left Thigh Injury, Anastasija Sevastova has been forced to retire from her match today. Aliaksandra Sasnovich wins by walkover.
— moscowrivercup (@moscowrivercup) July 27, 2018
The doubles match of N. Geuer (Ger) / L. Siegemund (GER) vs. A. Potapova (RUS) / V. Zvonareva has been moved to be played last on Center Court
The second semi-final in Russia will see Tamara Zidansek continue her remarkable progress, the 20-year-old having added Laura Siegemund to her list of scalps.
Zidansek – who beat Daria Kasatkina on Thursday – cruised past Siegemund 6-3 6-4, setting up a clash with Anastasia Potapova.
Wild card Potapova showed her battling qualities to come from a set down to beat Valentyna Ivakhnenko 1-6 6-3 6-2, ensuring there will be two 17-year-olds in the last four with Danilovic's progress.
There was a similar surprise in Nanchang at the JiangXi Open as Zhang Shuai was beaten by Zhu Lin, Zhang going down 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-1 in two hours and 35 minutes.
Zhang was unable to come from a set behind, but Magda Linette did so against Liang En-shuo.
Wang Qiang needed no such comeback, though, as she breezed past Liu Fangzhou 6-3 6-0, Wang winning 12 of the final 13 games to keep her hopes of a first Tour title alive.
She will meet Linette in the next round, while Zhu faces sixth seed Zheng Saisai.
