All four quarterfinals at the KDB Korea Open were played on Friday and the most dramatic was a three-setter between Francesca Schiavone and Kimiko Date-Krumm. Their match lasted just over two hours with Schiavone closing it at 4-6 6-4 6-4. The Italian was leading 4-2 in the first set, but the Japanese managed to reverse the game by winning the first set and taking the lead in the second, 6-4 2-0. It was a battle for every game. Schiavone was playing much better in the second set, but in the third they were very close until Schiavone took the win and extended her head-to-head record against Date-Krumm to 4-0. In the semifinals Schiavone will meet seed No.3 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for the sixth time in her career, leading the Russian in their encounters 3-2.
Other three quarterfinals were all straight-setters. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-2 6-2, top seed Agnieszka Radwanska eliminated Vera Dushevina in just over an hour 6-2 6-0, while Lara Arruabarrena threw out wildcard Jang Su Jeong, ranked 540th, in one hour and four minutes, 6-0 6-4. Radwanska and Arruabarrena will face each other in the semifinals. The two of them met only once before, in Madrid 2012, when Radwanska won in straight sets 6-3 6-1. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)
