Top sees Serena Williams beat Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals of the China Open, scoring her 71st victory this season, and will next face Agnieszka Radwanska. The other semifinal pair will feature Petra Kvitova vs. Jelena Jankovic.
Serena Williams eliminated seed No.6 Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets 6-1 6-4 in one hour and 16 minutes. Williams cruised through the first set 6-1 and even had a 4-0 lead in the second when Wozniacki rushed back and closed the gap between them by winning three straight games. The Dane even had a chance for 4-all, but the American pushed and closed the match.
It was their seventh career meeting and with today’s victory their head-to-head record is 6-1 for Serena. In the semis Serena will face Agnieszka Radwanska, also for the seventh time in her career. In all their previous encounters Serena won, so their head-to-head record is 6-0.
Agnieszka Radwanska beat Angelique Kerber in one hour and 42 minutes in a tight two-setter 7-6(7) 6-4. In the first set Radwanska was in the lead 5-1, but Kerber managed to score four straight games, which eventually led to a tiebreak, but in the end Agnieszka managed to squeeze through and close the set 7-6(7). The second set wasn’t that dramatic. Radwanska was again the first to establish the lead, but Kerber leveled to 3-all. Still, it was the Pole who celebrated in the end 6-4.
In the other quarterfinal matches, seed No.9 Petra Kvitova beat fourth seed Na Li in front of her home crowd, 4-6 6-2 6-4 in two and a half hours. Kvitova will next meet seed No.8 Jelena Jankovic, who eliminated Lucie Safarova in two hours and 36 minutes, 6-7(3) 6-4 6-4. It will be their third career meeting and so far Kvitova is leading 2-0.(photo: © Neal Trousdale)
