Kerber beats Doi, to face Vinci in Nuremberg semis

Angelique Kerber. (Artur Lebedev/AP)

NUREMBERG, Germany — Second-seeded Angelique Kerber reached the semifinals of the Nuremberg Cup with a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Japanese qualifier Misaki Doi on Thursday.

The German next faces the fourth-seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy, who beat seventh-seeded Kurumi Nara of Japan 6-1, 1-6, 6-4.

Sixth-seeded Karin Knapp defeated Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-4 for a place in the other semifinal.

The Italian was awaiting the winner between the eighth-seeded Carina Witthoeft of Germany and Lara Arruabarrena of Spain, playing in the late quarterfinal Thursday.

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