Kraus reaches first ITF semi-final of the season in Porto

At the Australian Open in Melbourne, she clearly lost her first qualifying match. Things are looking up for Senja Krause in her second tournament the week before the Upper Austria Women's Championship Linz: the 21-year-old immediately scored her first semi-final of the young season at the ITF W75+H event in Porto. The Viennese player (WTA 200 Championship) was the first player to miss the main competition in the high-value hard court tournament in the coastal town in northwestern Portugal, but she defeated British Sarah Beth Gray, seeded 15th (WTA 422 Championship) 6- 4 in the tournament. Qualifying after a bye, 6:3 through. In the main draw, she defeated 17-year-old local wildcard Maria Garcia (WTA 1348) 6:0, 6:3, then confidently eliminated eighth seed Frenchwoman Iulia Guingamp (WTA 143) with 6 after being bottom of a group: 7 (3), 6:1, 6:2. In the quarterfinals on Friday, Krause then outlasted American Robin Anderson (WTA 395) in a qualifying duel 6:1, 6:1 in just 46 minutes. Impressive points ratio: 53:17. Now awaiting the second match after 12:00 PM CET on Saturday is 22-year-old Poland's Maja Cwalinska (WTA 352), who competes using the special classification.