Caroline Wozniacki hits a return against Catherine Bellis on Thursday (KT photo)
Dubai - India's Sania Mirza enters doubles semifinals
Published: Thu 23 Feb 2017, 9:41 PM
Last updated: Fri 24 Feb 2017, 6:48 PM
American teen sensation Catherine Bellis looked set to extend her dream Dubai run only to throw it all away with a catastrophic implosion of her game on the centre court against the former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.
Wozniacki, a master at playing percentage tennis, brought all her experience against Bellis to nullify the American's 3-1 advantage in the first set. The Danish star then cleverly hit the angles to frustrate the rising American star and won the next five games to take the first set.
From then on, the first quarterfinal of the rain-delayed evening session was a one-sided affair as the 10th seeded Wozniacki booked her semifinal spot in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with that 6-3 6-2 victory.
Meanwhile, top seed Angelique Kerber moved one step closer to regaining the world number one ranking with a 6-3 6-2 win over rising Croatian star Ana Konjuh 6-3 6-2 in the last quarterfinal of the day.
The German star needs to win the Dubai title to dethrone Serena Williams as the top player in the women's game.
Kerber will take on seventh seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the semifinal on Friday.
One day Bellis, the 2014 ITF junior world champion, perhaps would replicate her early success at the senior level. But for that to happen, she would need to learn to show the patience to play more balls against smart on-court movers like Wozniacki.
Bellis, of course, won the Dubai tennis lovers' hearts with her skills and spirit in her stunning upset wins over 17th seed Russian Yulia Putintseva in the first round and the fourth seed and 2012 Dubai champion Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round.
On Thursday the crowd once again began chanting her name - or rather her nickname, CiCi - after she pulled off those early winners. But Wozniacki soon raised her game, suffocating the young American who ended the match with yet another unforced error.
"She is a great player. We are going to see a lot of her in the future. There is no doubt about that," Wozniacki said after beating Bellis in 68 minutes.
"She came out firing. I think I made her play a couple of extra balls and she made a few unforced errors after that. But you know she is a great player, she has a great forehand. She is not afraid of going for her shots," said Wozniacki who reached her sixth Dubai semifinal.
The Dane will now take on Latvian Anastasija Sevastova in the semifinal on Friday.
The 26-year-old Latvian had earlier beaten Chinese Qiang Wang 6-4 7-5 in the second quarterfinal match of the tournament.
"It's going to be very tough match tomorrow. She (Sevastova) is a player who has a lot of rhythm now. But I am looking forward to that challenge," said Wozniacki, the 2011 Dubai champion.
In the second quarterfinal of the day, seventh seeded Svitolina was in superb form in her 6-0 6-4 win over American Lauren Davis.
"I'm really happy the way I played. I analyzed from yesterday a little bit. I'm really happy the way I started and the way I finished the match, because I was being very aggressive and it worked really good," the world number 13 said after the match.
"I think I was calm and positive today. I'm really happy that I won and with the performance."
Mirza, Strycova in semifinals
India's Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova reached the semifinals of the doubles event with a comfortable win over Doha champions Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Abigail Spears of the US.
Mirza and Strycova won their quarterfinal match 6-2 7-5 on Court 1.
The third seed will now take on Russia's Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina for a place in the final.
Results
Singles quarterfinals
Thursday
(7) Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) beat Lauren Davis (US) 6-0 6-4
Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia) beat Qiang Wang (China) 6-4 7-5
(10) Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) beat Catherine Bellis (US) 6-3 6-2
(1) Angelique Kerber (Germany) beat Ana Konjuh (Croatia) 6-3 6-2
Doubles quarterfinals
(3) Sania Mirza (India)/Barbora Strycova (Czech Republic) beat (7) Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia)/Abigail Spears (US) 6-2 7-5
(2) Ekaterina Makarova (Russia)/Elena Vesnina (Russia) beat Gabriela Dabrowski (Canada) /Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) 6-1 3-6 10-5
(6) Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)/Shuai Peng (China) beat (4) Martina Hingis (Switzerland)/Chan Yung-Jan (Taipie) 6-4 6-2
(5) H Chan (Taipei)/Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) beat (1) Caroline Garcia (France)/ Kristina Mladenovic (France) 7-5 3-6 10-3
Order of Play
Friday
Centre Court
2pm
(3) Sania Mirza (India)/Barbora Strycova (Czech Republic) vs (2) Ekaterina Makarova (Russia)/Elena Vesnina (Russia)
Not before 5pm
(10) Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) vs Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia)
Not before 7pm
(1) Angelique Kerber (Germany) vs (7) Elina Svitolina (Ukraine)
(5) H Chan (Taipei)/Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)/ (6) Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)/Shuai Peng (China)
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