Very high-level tennis was enjoyed on Friday at the ITF Lanzarote Women's. The courts of Club La Santa hosted the quarterfinals of the singles draw and the semifinals of the doubles draw. A Friday marked by the triumphs of the Spanish players Arabela Fernández and Laura Pous, players who have sneaked into the semifinals of the tournament. In addition, the joy has been double for Arabela Fernández. The Tenerife player has qualified for the second consecutive week for the final of the doubles draw with her partner, the Belgian, Elise Mertens.
The Spanish Arabela Fernández resolved her quarterfinal match against the Japanese Yumi Nakano quickly. The Tenerife player achieved two breaks in a row and took a 4/0 lead in the first set right from the start. She won the first set convincingly by a score of 6/1. The script of the match barely changed in the second set and almost without wear and tear she won again by 6/1, a result that was enough to sneak into the semifinals.
The Spanish Laura Pous also won her match against the Dutch Quirine Lemoine in two sets. The final score of 7/5 and 6/2 reflects the great difference that existed on the tennis court. Laura Pous, as happened last week, is resolving all her commitments with relative ease.
The big surprise of the day was starred by the South African Natasha Fourouclas, who eliminated the Russian Valeria Savinbykh, number one seed of the tournament. Natasha, a player who was celebrating her 20th birthday today, could not have celebrated it in a better way. She won 6/4 and 6/2 against the big favorite of this third ITF tournament held in Lanzarote. The quarterfinals were completed with the victory of the Belgian Elise Mertens by 6/2 and 6/3 against the Greek María Sakkari. Elise has taken the measure of the Greek and for the second consecutive week she manages to eliminate her in the quarterfinals.
The semifinals of the ITF Lanzarote Women's III are scheduled from 10:00 am on Saturday at the Club La Santa facilities. In the first round, Arabela Fernández and Natasha Fourouclas will face each other, two players who met in the semifinals of the first tournament. On that occasion, Natasha Fourouclas won 7/6 and 6/4 against the Tenerife player, in a match that had to be stopped due to rain. At the end of this match, the second semifinal between Elise Mertens and Laura Pous will be played.
The doubles final from 2:30 pm
On Saturday, the name of the third couple to win in the doubles category of the ITF Lanzarote Women's will be known. On Friday midday, the semifinals of the doubles draw were held and featured a large presence of Spanish players. Inés Ferrer and Olga Parrés were unable to reach the final after losing 6/3 and 7/6 to Ioana Rosca (Romania) and Hikari Yamamoto (Japan).
The Tenerife player Arabela Fernández had better luck with her partner Elise Mertens (Belgium). They won the first set by a resounding 6/0 against the pair formed by Nicole Clerico (Italy) and Justine Ozga (Germany). They confirmed the victory in the second set by winning it 7/5, breaking the rivals' serve in the penultimate game.
The doubles final will not start before 2:30 pm at Club La Santa. The schedule of the final will depend on the duration of the individual semifinals, matches in which Arabela Fernández and Elise Mertens also have to play. The regulations stipulate that an hour and a half must be waited between the end and the beginning of another match in which the same player participates.
