Top four seeds were the only seeds in the Apia International Sydney quarterfinals and three of them advanced to the semis – No.1 Agnieszka Radwanska, No.2 Angelique Kerber and No.4 Li Na, while No.3 Sara Errani got eliminated in a dominant fashion.
The world No.4 Agnieszka Radwanska extended her win-loss record this season to 7-0 by rallying from 3-1 down in the second set to battle past Roberta Vinci 6-4 7-5. It was a nice revenge for Radwanska for the loss in their last meeting which saw Roberta Vinci reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the 2012 US Open. In the other quarterfinal played during the day session, Dominika Cibulkova continued her running through the draw, adding the sixteenth to her fifteenth Top 10 win, that happened in the first round against Petra Kvitova, by dominating Sara Errani 6-2 6-1.
The night session saw two qualifiers lose – the Grand Slam champion qualifier Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to Angelique Kerber 6-3 7-5, while teen Madison Keys was stopped by Li Na, who is just like Radwanska on a winning streak this year, with a 4-6 7-6(2) 6-2 victory. Keys was playing her first WTA quarterfinal, by virtue of two quality eliminations of Lucie Safarova and Zheng Jie, and didn’t melt down on big stage against her Grand Slam champion opponent. This has been a great resurgence week for Kuznetsova and a memorable breakthrough week for the 17-year-old Keys.
Semifinal pairs: Agnieszka Radwanska [1] vs. Li Na [4], Angelique Kerber [2] vs. Dominika Cibulkova. Head-to-head leaders in these match-ups are Li 5-3 (3-1 last season) and Cibulkova 2-0. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)
I’m fan Agnieszka Radwanska and her going against Li Na is one match I was more worried than against Roberta Vinci. I am hopeful Agnieszka can win today/tomorrow.
I fancy a Li/Kerber final.
Li and Radwanska have both been in great form, but will have played alot of matches before the Australian Open…