Barty, Gasquet advance to Cincinnati Masters semis

Washington, Aug 17 (IANS) Australia's Ashleigh Barty and France's Richard Gasquet reached the semi-finals in their respective events after winning their quarterfinal clashes at the Cincinnati Masters.In women' singles, Barty moved closer to regaining the world number one ranking by beating Maria Sakkari 5-7, 6-2, 6-0 in her quarterfinal clash on Friday.With one more win, she can move into the top spot for the US Open, taking it back from Japan's Naomi Osaka, who had much bigger concerns after dropping out of her semifinal match because of a knee injury.After splitting sets with Sofia Kenin, Osaka took a timeout early in the third set to have her left knee examined and wrapped. She played only two more points before retiring, sending Kenin into the semifinals for the second straight week.Barty will face Svetlana Kuznetsova, who beat third-seeded Karolina Pliskova 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3.Meanwhile, in men's singles, Gasquet defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-2 to make it to his first ATP Masters semi-final in six years.Gasquet will play against Belgian 16th seed David Goffin for a place in the summit clash. Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka's walkover gave Goffin an automatic advance due to illness.
--IANS aak/ksk