TENNIS – Caroline Wozniacki beat Andrea Petkovic 7-5 6-1 in Eastbourne on the South Coast of England setting up a semifinal against Belinda Bencic. Agniezska Radwanska will face Sloane Stephens in the other semifinal Diego Sampaolo
Caroline Wozniacki dropped her first three service games but managed to break back each time. She opened up a 5-3 lead but the German won the next two games to draw level it at 5-5. Wozniacki broke serve in the 12th game to take the set 7-5. Woznaicki cruised in the second set and closed out the win with a volley for 6-1
Wozniacki, who won the title back in 2009 and reached the semifinal here for the past two years, set up a semifinal match against Belinda Bencic who fought back from a set down to beat Great Britain’s Johanna Konta 2-6 6-0 6-3. Bencic beat Wozniacki in their last match at Indian Wells in March.
“I am excited to play tomorrow, to get another semifinal here. It’s nice to have got a few more matches under my belt before Wimbledon. The first set was pretty tight. I thought we were both playing pretty good tennis. I especially stepped it up in the second set, took the ball a little bit earlier and got some of those service games that I wasn’t getting in the first set”, said Wozniacki.
World Number 146 Johanna Konta, who beat two top-20 players this week, broke serve twice in the first and in the seventh game of the opening set to take a 5-2 lead en route to winning it wth 6-2. Bencic, who finished runner-up in s’Hertogenbosch earlier this month, played aggressive and won the second set without dropping a game. In the third set Bencic saved three break points in a 10-minute game. The 18-year-old Swiss player converted her third break point chance in the sixth game for 4-2 before closing out the match with 6-3.
Sloane Stephens had a walkover after Daria Gavrilova withdrew with an abdominal injury. Stephens is hoping to get to get first WTA final of her career at this event. The US player will face Agniezska Radwanska who beat Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2 6-2. Radwanska did not face any break points and dropped just eight points in her eight service games. She is looking to be in fine form for the grass court season after a disastrous Spring. She is hoping that this translates to the Wimbledon courts where she had the finals back in 2012.
