Italy’s Flavia Pennetta continued her dominance of an injury-hampered Samantha Stosur with a 6-4, 6-3 victory in the quarter-finals of the San Diego Open on Friday.
Fifth seed Pennetta set up a semi-final with twice Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who ended the hopes of US teenager Coco Vandeweghe 7-5, 6-2.
Pole Agnieszka Radwanska will meet Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova in the other semi after thrashing Israel’s Shahar Peer 6-2, 6-0.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Pennetta has never dropped a set in three meetings to world No. 5 Stosur and ran the Australian around the court.
“If I stay doing the same things against her then it’s better for me,” said Pennetta, who has played 51 matches this year, more than any other player.
“I played backhands down the line deep and I can return her kick serve really well. I have [a] few shots that make her very nervous all the time,” she said.
Stosur complained of a muscle injury in her arm that she said had bothered her since her first match at the Stanford Classic last week and had led to a hospital visit after her loss to the Italian.
“It’s like a really strong, heavy ache when it starts and I can’t get rid of it until I get off the court,” said the Australian, who reached her first Grand Slam final at the French Open in June.
“I can’t work out what’s going on. It hurts every time when I get on court. If I’m going to go on court I want to play the best I can, and maybe now I can’t. It can start to wear you down a little,” she said.
Kuznetsova had little to complain about in her victory over 18-year-old qualifier Vandeweghe, coming back from 2-5 down and saving a set point in the first set.
Vandeweghe double-faulted to hand the Russian a service break then erred on a backhand to concede the set.
Kuznetsova powered away in the second set, taking the match when her visibly tiring opponent missed another backhand.
Hantuchova overcame a slow start to defeat Russian Kleybanova 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
DANISH OPEN
AP, COPENHAGEN
Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki gave another scare to the hometown fans before pulling out a 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (3) win over Julia Goerges of Germany in the Danish Open quarter-finals on Friday.
Wozniacki, under pressure to meet high expectations of winning the inaugural Danish Open, also conceded the first set in the second round.
This time, she was pushed past two hours to repeat her win over fifth-seeded Goerges at this year’s Australian Open.
In the final set, Wozniacki was a break down at 5-3 and two points away from losing the match but won it in a tiebreaker.
Wozniacki moved on to meet the resurging Anna Chakvetadze of Russia, who beat sixth-seeded Polona Hercog from Slovenia 6-4, 6-3.
Chakvetadze topped Hercog for the second time in two weeks, repeating her win in Portoroz where the Russian won the title.
Second-seeded Li Na of China swept past eighth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-1, 6-2 to earn a showdown against seventh-seeded Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, who beat Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-1, 7-5.
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