Caroline Wozniacki closes on world No. 1 ranking
Caroline Wozniacki edged a step closer to snatching the world No. 1 ranking from Serena Williams by winning her second round match against Sara Errani at the China Open in Beijing.
The current world No. 2 needs only to reach the quarter-finals at this tournament to take the top ranking from Williams, who has been sidelined with a foot injury since defending her Wimbledon crown at the start of July.
Wozniacki defeated Errani 6-4, 6-2 to reach the third round, and will now play Czech Petra Kvitova for a place in the final eight – and the chance to ascend to the top of the WTA rankings.
Earlier, Vera Zvonareva staged a come-from-behind win against Maria Kirilenko in their third round match, eventually winning through to the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 scoreline, dominating the third set after the first two had been much more tightly contested affairs.
Shahar Peer brought qualifier Bojana Jovanovski’s run – which had included a second round win over third seed Jelena Jankovic – to an end in their third round match today. The Israeli booked her place in the quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-2 win.
Peer will now play Timea Bacsinszky in the final eight, with the world No. 47 earning her quarter-final place with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Elena Vesnina (who had knocked 12th seed Maria Sharapova out of the tournament in her previous match).
In the men’s draw, Nikolay Davydenko secured four breaks of serve to two against Marin Cilic to reach the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 7-5 win after one hour and 53 minutes on court.
Cilic had defeated the world No. 6 in the final eight in Beijing in 2009, but Davydenko turned the tables today and in doing so booked a date with the 6ft 9in John Isner.
Isner, who will long be remembered as the winner of that marathon 11 hour Wimbledon match this year, took three sets and a comparatively quick two hours and 12 minutes to defeat Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber in their second round encounter.
Gilles Simon took three hours and six minutes to shake of the challenge by a confident Michael Berrer – who had defeated fifth seed Tomas Berdych in his opening match – but the Frenchman eventually prevailed 6-7(8), 6-4, 7-6(4) to reach the quarter-finals on his tournament debut.
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