U.S. Open semifinalist Peng Shuai outlasted Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia in three sets while Saisai Zheng followed suit in the inaugural Tianjin Open in China on Friday.

The second seeded Shuai pulled out ahead in the tie-break of the first set but Tomljanovic turned things around and took the second set to level the match.

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Hometown favorite Shuai, who grew up in Tianjin, found a chance to break in the third set and took advantage to win the set and the match 7(7)-6(5) 2-6 7-5.

Shuai, 28, is now China's No. 1 after Li Na retired from tennis and will now go up against 17-year-old Belinda Bencic of Switzerland who defeated Shuai's former partner Su-wei Hsieh also in three sets 6-4 4-6 6-2.

The third seeded Bencic shocked everyone as she defeated top 10 seeds Angelique Kerber and Jelena Jankovic en route to her very first quarterfinals appearance at any Grand Slam tournament in the recent U.S. Open.

She became the youngest U.S. Open quarterfinalist since her fellow Swiss Martina Hingis who is also playing in Tianjin in the doubles competition along with partner Flavia Pennetta.

In the other side of the quarterfinals, China's Zheng, who shocked top seeded Jelena Jankovic in the second round, also advanced to the semis after defeating Sorana Cirstea of Romania in three sets 6-4 2-6 6-1.

Zheng, 20, will face sixth seeded Alison Riske who won over fourth seeded Varvara Lepchenko in their all-American encounter in the quarters 7(7)-6(5) 6-3.

Riske, Tomljanovic and Cirstea are still in it though at the doubles competition where Riske and Tomljanovic are partners while Cirstea is teamed up with Andreja Klepac.

The two teams will battle it out in the quarterfinals and the winner of their matchup will go up against second seeds Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova who won a close three set match against fourth seeded Chin-wei Chan of Chinese Taipei and China's Xu Yifan 6-4 4-6 11-9.

TagsPeng Shuai, Saisai Zheng, Belinda Bencic