Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams remained on course for an early season heavyweight showdown after winning their quarter-finals at the Auckland Classic yesterday.
The top seeded Wozniacki overcame Julia Goerges 6-4, 6-4, while Williams saw off Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-4. Wozniacki is to face Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in today’s semi-finals, while Williams meets her fellow American Lauren Davis.
Goerges had won three of his previous four encounters with Wozniacki, but could not get the better of the Dane this time, despite serving seven aces.
Photo: AFP
“She’s always given me a lot of trouble in the past, so I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy one,” Wozniacki said.
“I just kept fighting. I tried to be more consistent than her and I think I managed to do that,” she said.
The road ahead for Wozniacki does not get any easier. Her next opponent is Czech fourth seed Strycova, who clawed her way back from 5-2 in the second set to beat Coco Vandeweghe 6-4, 7-5, winning 20 of the last 23 points.
Williams also had to dig herself out of trouble against Vesnina, who had won two of their three previous meetings.
The Russian led 4-2 in the second set before the 34-year-old American reeled off the last four games on the trot.
“Things seemed to be going on serve, but then she had a big game for a break and another big game for a hold, and things were getting really interesting,” Williams said. “She was really picking up her level, but after that, I don’t know, the games came and then it was over. That’s what you have to expect every time. Nobody’s going to give it to you.”
Davis recovered after losing the opening set against Polish qualifier Urszula Radwanska to win 2-6 6-2, 6-1.
SHENZHEN OPEN
Top seed and world No. 3 Simona Halep, along with second seed Petra Kvitova, ranked four, both breezed past lowly opponents in straight sets yesterday to reach the semi-finals of the WTA Shenzhen Open.
Romanian Halep, last year’s French Open runner-up, made short work of Serbian qualifier Aleksandra Krunic, winning through 6-3, 6-3 in 62 minutes.
Double Wimbledon winner Kvitova needed slightly longer to dispose of her fellow Czech Tereza Smitkova, but did so 7-5, 6-4.
She will play Swiss eighth seed Timea Bacsinszky in the semi-finals, after former world No. 2 Vera Zvonareva’s injury devils returned to haunt her and she retired in tears just 29 minutes into her first WTA quarter-final since 2012.
The Russian reached the Wimbledon and US Open finals in 2010, but has since been plagued by injury and illness, dropping to 250 in the world, and was attempting to launch a comeback at the US$500,000 tournament.
Halep’s semi-final opponent will be home player Zheng Saisai, 20, who is ranked 97th, but beat fourth seed Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 3-6, 7-6, 6-2 to maintain Chinese interest in the event.
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