Qinwen, Samsonova set up China-Russia tennis final in Tokyo

TOKYO (AP) — Rising teenager Zheng Qinwen has continued her winning run at the Toray Pan Pacific tournament by beating the sole remaining seed Veronika Kudermetova 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 in the semifinals in Tokyo. In another Chinese-Russian matchup, unseeded Liudmila Samsonova overcame Zhang Shuai 7-6, 6-2. In a match that lasted a little over three hours, Qinwen and fourth-seeded Kudermetova traded huge ground shots, big serves and plenty of errors as they pushed each other to the limits. “I feel so amazing to arrive in the final,” the 19-year-old Qinwen said. “Today was a really, really difficult match.”