Nottingham Open: Kessler beats two-time defending champion Boulter to reach last four

McCartney Kessler edged out No 8 seed Katie Boulter 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to move into the semi-finals of the Nottingham Open at Lexus Nottingham Tennis Centre.

The American halted Boulter’s 12-match winning streak in Nottingham, with her powerful serve and groundstrokes upending the Briton.

Kessler will move into her first grass-court semi-final, where she will face the winner of the match between Slovak Rebecca Sramkova and No 7 seed Linda Noskova.

In the previous rounds of the Nottingham tournament, the American edged out Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, the top seed (7-5, 6-7 (3), 7-5) and won against Chinese Lin Zhu (6-1, 6-4).

Boulter, ranked No 39, beat New Zealander Lulu Sun (6-2, 6-2) and edged out Sonay Kartal (6-4, 1-6, 7-5) earlier in the tournament.

Nottingham WTA 250, other last-eight results (Lexus Nottingham Tennis Centre, grass, USD 275.094, most recent results first):

• Rebecca Sramkova vs. Linda Noskova
• Magda Linette (6) beat Clara Tauson (2): 6-2, 7-5
• Dayana Yastremska beat Leylah Fernandez (5): 6-3, 7-6 (6)