Brits impress again with a hat-trick of quarter-final wins at Lexus Wrexham Open

Pictured: Mika Stojsavljevic celebrates booking a place in the semi-final in Wrexham. Picture: Malcolm Couzens.

Welsh star Mimi Xu's wonderful week continued as she advanced to the semi-finals of the Lexus Wrexham Open with an excellent win over sixth seed Harmony Tan. Mika Stojsavljevic and Lily Miyazaki then ensured three of tomorrow's four singles semi-finalists are British by also impressively winning their quarter-final matches.   Already through to the last four of the doubles, Xu also booked a semi-final spot in the singles with a 6-3, 6-3 success against Tan, who has a career-high world ranking of 90, in front of a delighted home crowd at Wrexham Tennis & Padel Centre.

Xu, 18, from Swansea felt it was her best performance of the week so far as she got the better of Tan, the French player who hit the headlines in 2022 by beating Serena Williams at Wimbledon in the final appearance at SW19 for the seven-time champion.

Xu said: "I'm really happy with my performance, I think I played really well, played really smart, and I'm just happy to get the win and play my best tennis today.

“This is definitely the best match I've played this week so far - and hopefully that keeps continuing.”

Xu added: "It's my biggest semi-final I've played so far. It means so much more that I can do it in Wales. The crowd was amazing again today and they've been amazing every day, so I couldn't have asked for anything else.

“It's an amazing feeling to play in front of them - they're such an amazing crowd.” 

Xu will face Miyazaki in the last four after the British No. 8 produced an excellent recovery after losing the opening set to beat Jana Otzipka, a qualifier from Belgium, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the day's longest match, two hours and eight minutes. It was another impressive performance from Miyazaki - also through to the doubles semi-finals - after overcoming top seed Jessika Ponchet in the second round of the ITF World Tennis Tour event.

Stojsavljevic, the in-form 16-year-old from London who won the ITF W35 Birmingham tournament last week, added another victory to her growing collection by beating Czech qualifier Lucie Havlickova 6-2, 6-2 in an hour and 14 minutes.

“It was a really enjoyable experience," said Stojsavljevic, the former US Open junior champion who enjoyed another fine run to the semi-finals in New York last month as she went close to defending her girls' singles title.

"I think the crowd were giving me such incredible energy and it made me play better. It motivated me to play better, especially when I got that break in the second set.”

Returning to Wrexham to play this week has brought back good memories for Stojsavljevic of her previous visit to North Wales: “I won the under-14 Tennis Europe here a couple of years ago, so I know my way around here and I really like this club. It's great.”

The Brit will now face Elena Malygina in the semi-finals after the Estonian ended Ella McDonald's Wrexham run by winning 6-1, 6-0. McDonald, 20, from Preston had enjoyed two good wins to reach the last eight, but came up against an opponent in fine touch as Malygina progressed.

Asked about the prospect of facing the Estonain for a place in Sunday's final, Stojsavljevic said;

“I actually played her last week in the first round of the 35 - I had a pretty tough draw last week. She's a very good opponent, she's very experienced, she's been around for a while and it will be a good match.”

Tomorrow's two singles semi-finals will be followed by the second doubles semi-final, with Xu and McDonald facing Miyazaki and Freya Christie in all-British clash. Brit Amarni Banks and Switzerland’s Valentina Ryser booked their place in Sunday's final by beating singles semi-finalist Malygina and Sweden’s Kajsa Rinaldo Persson in a third set tiebreak in the last four.   

A limited number of tickets remain available to watch tomorrow’s semi-finals, which start at noon, from court-side stands costing £22.50, with under-16 tickets also available priced £17.50