Serena Williams extended her unbeaten run on clay this season to 26 matches as she dismantled Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-1, 6-1 to ease into the semi-finals of the Swedish Open on Friday.
The American will now play third seed Klara Zakopalova who had little trouble eliminating Dutch hope Richel Hogenkamp 6-2, 6-3.
The second semi-final will pit home favorite Johanna Larsson against Italian Flavia Pennetta after both won their quarter-final matches in straight sets.
Photo: EPA
The 24-year-old Larsson, who is looking for her first WTA singles’ title, dropped just three games on the way to a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of Frenchwoman Mathilde Johansson.
Pennetta also made short work of her French opponent with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Virginie Razzano.
GASTEIN LADIES
AP, BAD GASTEIN, Austria
Karin Knapp of Italy routed second seed Annika Beck of Germany 6-0, 6-1 to advance to the Gastein Ladies semi-finals on Friday.
Knapp will play Yvonne Meusburger of Austria while Elina Svitolina of Ukraine will take on Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic.
Meusburger beat Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-1, 7-6 (7/1) while Svitolina downed Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria 6-3, 6-0.
Hlavackova defeated Austrian wild-card Lisa-Maria Moser 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).
GERMAN OPEN
AFP, HAMBURG, Germany
Roger Federer needed just under two hours to see off Germany’s Florian Mayer in three-sets on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Hamburg claycourt tournament.
The Swiss top seed dug deep to claim the third set for a 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 7-5 quarter-final victory.
Federer was due to face Argentine qualifier Federico Delbonis in yesterday’s semi-finals.
German second-seed Tommy Haas made a quarter-final exit when he lost in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, to Italian 12th-seed Fabio Fognini.
Fognini was due to play third-seed Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, who beat fifth-seed Juan Monaco of Argentina 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.
CLARO OPEN COLOMBIA
AP, BOGOTA
Hometown favorite Alejandro Falla upset top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Friday to advance to the Claro Open Colombia semi-finals.
The Colombian was due to face Canada’s Vasek Pospisil yesterday after Pospisil beat Italy’s Matteo Viola 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
In the other quarter-finals, Kevin Anderson of South Africa beat Santiago Giraldo and Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic downed Adrian Mannarino.
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