Wang continues mastery of Stephens with Parma win

   Sloane Stephens continues to struggle against Qiang Wang.

   The sixth-seeded Wang, from China, improved to 3-0 against the unseeded Stephens, who grew up in Fresno, Calif., with a 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory today in the semifinals of the Emilia-Romagna Open, a WTA 250 tournament on red clay in Parma, Italy.

   The second set was the first time Wang has lost more than three games in a set against Stephens, the runner-up to Simona Halep in the 2018 French Open. Both previous matches were on hardcourts.

   Halep withdrew from Roland Garros, which begins May 30, after retiring from her second-round match against Angelique Kerber in last week's Italian Open with a tear in her left calf.

   ATP Tour — In the doubles semifinals of the Geneva Open on red clay, unseeded Simone Bolelli of Italy and Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina defeated No. 3 seeds Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Ben McLachlan (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14) of Japan 3-6, 6-3 [10-4].

   ATP Challenger Tour — In the doubles semis of the Oeiras (Portugal) Open on red clay, unseeded Hunter Reese of Knoxville, Tenn., and Sem Verbeek (University of the Pacific, 2013-16) of the Netherlands beat wild cards Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral of Portugal 6-4, 6-4.

   Reese and Verbeek, a 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) left-hander, are scheduled to play unseeded Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul of France on Saturday. Doumbia and Reboul eliminated unseeded Americans Steve Johnson and Max Schnur 7-6 (2), 6-3.