Former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki trounced Alexandra Dulgheru for the loss of just one game to reach the WTA Auckland Classic semi-finals yesterday. The third seed, who has not dropped a set all week, took only 52 minutes to overwhelm Romania’s Dulgheru 6-1, 6-0 and set up a last-four clash with American Sloane Stephens.
The second semi-final is to be between Germany’s Julia Goerges and qualifier Tamira Paszek from Austria, whose head-to-head record is 2-2. They benefited from being in the same half of the draw as the top two seeds, Venus Williams and Ana Ivanovic, who were first-round casualties.
Paszek, ranked 172nd in the world, survived a three-hour marathon quarter-final against Kirsten Flipkens from Belgium, finally winning 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3. Flipkens was down 1-4 in the second set before winning it on a tiebreak, and she recovered from 0-5 to 3-5 in the final set before Paszek got over the line.
Photo: AFP
“I am delighted that I was strong enough mentally to focus and deal with the setbacks, and actually close out the match,” the 25-year-old Paszek said.
Goerges also came through a three-set quarter-final when she came from behind to beat Japan’s Nao Hibino 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 6-4.
Stephens, the fifth seed, ended the run of Briton Naomi Broady, who conquered second seed Ivanovic in the first round. Broady hinted at another shock when she took the first set to a tiebreak. However, Stephens clicked into gear to reach the semis 7-6 (8/6), 6-3.
SHENZHEN OPEN
AFP, BEIJING
Seeded first, Agnieszka Radwanska strolled into the semi-finals of the WTA Shenzhen Open in straight sets yesterday, the only seed left in the US$500,000 tournament.
Radwanska, the world No. 5 and winner of the WTA Finals in Singapore in November last year, disposed of her second home opponent in as many days, defeating Wang Qiang 6-3, 6-2 in a little more than an hour.
However, Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, the No. 6 seed, went out at the hands of Timea Babos of Hungary, 6-4, 6-4.
The tournament in the southern Chinese city has been littered with surprises and early exits, some of them to illness or injury.
Radwanska is now likely to be an even hotter favorite, as world No. 70 Babos — whom she will meet in tomorrow’s final, if they both win their semis — is her highest-ranked remaining rival.
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Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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