Team USA’s Marina Stefanoni upset the Chestnut Hill Classic two seed Lucy Beecroft 14-12 in the fifth to reach her first PSA Bronze semifinal, while top seed Olivia Weaver took one step closer to defending her home club title Thursday, November 21, at the Philadelphia Cricket Club.
One week after claiming her second career $15k PSA title and reaching a new career high ranking of world No. 44, Stefanoni has continued her stellar form in Philadelphia where she upset world No. 55 Beecroft in a close five-game quarterfinal. The American saved a match ball on her way from coming back from 7-2 down in the fifth game and saved a match ball in the tie break to clinch the match 14-12 after fifty-seven minutes.
“I’m super happy, this is my biggest semifinal ever,” Stefanoni said. “I definitely knew that I could push through and win it. She ran away with the first and fourth games, so I was just super happy with the comeback. I’ve been down before, so I knew that I could dig myself out if I needed to, so that is what I was thinking at 7-2 down in the fifth game. It was great to be able to come back, save a match ball and get the win.”
Weaver, world No. 4 and the defending champion, maintained her perfect run with a clinical 3-0 performance against England’s Saran Ngheim.
A win for both Americans in Friday evening’s semifinals could produce an all-American final. Watch the semifinals live on psaworldtour.com from 5pm ET.