Agnieszka Radwanska kept her Tokyo title defense on track with an emphatic win over Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig, defeating her 6-2, 6-3 to claim her fifth semifinal berth at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
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Two-time defending champion Radwanska needed three sets to overcome Barbora Strycova in the second round, but proved more controlling in her last-eight clash with Puig.
Wildcard Naomi Osaka also pulled off an upset, getting the better of sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-1 in just 63 minutes, while US Open semifinalist Caroline Wozniacki dumped out fourth seed Carla Suarez Navarro with a 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-4 victory.
‘With Caroline, we’ve played so many matches everywhere on every surface, it’s always a great challenge against her, ‘ Radwanska said. “Hopefully, I can serve just as well against her”.
Friday’s other quarter finals see Belarussian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich tackle Japanese wild card Naomi Osaka, while top-seeded Garbine Muguruza, of Spain, faces eighth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, of Russian Federation.
The Pole set up a semi-final showdown with Caroline Wozniacki in Tokyo with her straight sets win. I felt she had a great backhand return, so I thought I would mix it up a bit and see what she did.
Elina Svitolina eliminated French Open champion Garbine Muguruza 6-2 4-6 6-3 in a match lasting over two hours.
In Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong Province, defending champion Jelena Jankovic will have another shot at the title after defeating Ana Konjuh of Croatia 7-5, 7-6 (7) in the Guangzhou Open semifinals yesterday. “I was serving well and keeping the ball very well”.
In Seoul’s Korea Open, second seed Johanna Larsson was comfortably beaten 6 -4 6-0 by Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino to reach the semi-finals.
Third-seeded Frenchman Lucas Pouille also reached the last eight by beating his Davis Cup teammate Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 6-7 (6) 6-4 in their first ever meeting.
Goffin plays eighth-seeded Nicolas Mahut, who downed Illya Marchenko of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4, while Pouille next faces Julien Benneteau.
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Tsurenko defeated Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 6-4, 6-2 in the other semifinal.
