Caroline Wozniacki, Lucie Safarova move to the semi-finals – eBoks Sony Ericsson Open 2011
Caroline Wozniacki defeats Alberta Brianti 6-0, 6-1
World number 1 and top seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark crushed world number 57 Alberta Brianti of Italy in straight sets in the quarterfinals at the eBoks Sony Ericsson Open in Copenhagen on Friday. The Danish dropped only
one game in the entire match, beating her opponent 6-0, 6-1 in just 55 minutes.
Wozniacki was almost flawless in the opening set as she did not allow her opponent to claim even a single game, breaking the Italian thrice and winning the set 6-0. The Danish delivered 80 percent of the first serves and claimed
69 percent of the points on them. The five feet and ten inches tall converted three of the five break points she received on Brianti’s serve in the first set.
The Danish broke her opponent twice in the second set, dropping only one game and winning the set 6-1. Wozniacki hit four aces and 65 percent of the first serves, winning 77 percent of the points on them in the second set.
Wozniacki said, in the post-match press conference, "I played really, really well today. I was aggressive, came to the net and served well. The crowd was amazing and really helped me."
The right handed will take on German Mona Barthel, ranked 142nd in the world, in the semi-finals.
Lucie Safarova beats Shuai Zhang 4-6, 6-0, 7-6(5)
Czech Lucie Safarova, ranked 38th in the world, came back after getting one set down to battle past Chinese Shuai Zhang, ranked 86th in the world, in three sets 4-6, 6-0, 7-6(5) into the semi-finals. The match
lasted for two hours.
Zhang broke Safarova in the seventh game of the first set and consolidated on it to win the set 6-4. The Chinese converted two of the four break points and failed to save the only break point she faced in the first set.
Safarova staged a great comeback in the second set, breaking her opponent three times and winning six straight games to grab the set 6-0. The Czech fired a whopping 88 percent of the first serves, bagging 79 percent of the points
on them in the second set.
Safarova and Zhang exchanged a couple of breaks of serve in the first twelve games of the final set to equalise the score at 6-6, taking the set to a tie-break. The Czech captured a single mini-break in the tie-break, winning it
7-5.
After the match, Safarova said, "Somehow I cannot win the first set. I have not been able to start my engine quickly enough this week, and that's something I'll have to improve going forward. Especially for tomorrow. Petra is a
very good player."
The 24-year-old will face world number 112 Petra Martic of Croatian in the semi-finals.
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