Last year’s Pacific Life Open runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova became the first player into the semifinals of this year’s event when she defeated Agnieszka Radwanska.
World No.3 Kuznetsova, seeded second at the event, avenged her Australian Open loss to Radwanska sweeping past the Polish teenager 6-2 6-4.
Kuznetsova broke her 19-year-old opponent in the first and third games of the opening set. They traded service breaks early in the second set, and Kuznetsova broke in the seventh game before serving out to seal the win in tenth.
In the semifinals Kuznetsova will play either Daniela Hantuchova, a player she lost to in the last year’s Indian Wells final, or Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova.
