<p>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Garbiñe Muguruza rallied from a set and a break down Thursday to beat Aryna Sabalenka for the second week in a row and reach the semifinals of the Dubai Championships.</p>
<p>Muguruza was broken in the opening game of the second set before turning the match around to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. She has reached back-to-back semifinals, having lost to Petra Kvitova in the Qatar Open final last week.</p>
<p>Muguruza faces Elise Mertens in the semifinals after the 10th-seeded Belgian saved three match points to beat Jessica Pegula 5-7, 7-5, 6-0. Pegula served for the match at 5-3 in the second set and had the match points on Mertens’ serve in the next game. Mertens won the last 11 games.</p>
<p>Muguruza won her only previous meeting with Mertens at the 2016 U.S. Open.</p>
<p>Jil Teichmann won 6-3, 6-3 against 16-year-old American Coco Gauff to set up a semifinal with doubles specialist Barbora Krejcikova.</p>
<p>Krejcikova is a match away from her second career singles final after beating Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-2. The Czech player is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, including winning her third consecutive mixed doubles title at the Australian Open last month. Her only tour singles final was a one-sided loss to Kiki Bertens in Nuremberg in 2017. </p>
<hr />
<p>More AP tennis: <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/tennis">https://apnews.com/hub/tennis</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Sports">https://twitter.com/AP_Sports</a></p>
