PARIS: Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic beat Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (3) on Friday to reach the semifinals of the Paris Open. Kvitova will next face either Andrea Petkovic of Germany or Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States.
Kvitova double-faulted to lose the first set to Wickmayer. But the fourth-seeded lefty broke for a 4-3 lead in the second set when Wickmayer netted a backhand. Kvitova leveled at one set apiece on a double fault from the seventh-seeded Belgian. Kvitova jumped to a 4-1 lead in the tie-breaker and converted her second match point when an approach shot from Wickmayer sailed long. Earlier, Jelena Dokic let out a huge yelp of delight after outgunning fifth seed Nadia Petrova 6-4 7-6 at the Paris Open on Thursday to book a meeting with Kim Clijsters in the last eight. The Australian, who has fallen so far from her career-high ranking of number four in 2002 that she had to qualify for the first round, looked the better player throughout on the hardcourt against the 2007 winner. Belgian top seed Clijsters, who has seen main threat Maria Sharapova of Russia withdraw with a virus, only needs to beat Dokic on Friday to depose Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki as world number one but she can expect a tough encounter. “I feel good, it’s a great start to the year for me. I’m getting better and better,” Dokic, who surprised last year’s runner-up Lucie Safarova in the first round, said courtside. “I have nothing to lose against Kim. She’s number two, almost number one in the world, so I’m just going to go out there and enjoy it.”
