DUBAI, Feb 22, (Agencies): Former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova pummelled Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 6-4 in the semi-finals of the Dubai Championships on Friday, while Sara Errani defeated doubles partner Roberta Vinci 6-3 6-3 in an all-Italian showdown. Kvitova, 22, has yet to drop a set in Dubai, the world No.8 returning to form after failing to win more than two matches at any other tournament this year. The left-hander will also go into Saturday’s final as favourite, having won all three previous matches against Errani. Against former world number one Wozniacki, Kvitova was comfortable in the opening set, being taken to deuce only once and saving the two break points she faced.

Wozniacki found it harder going, losing the opening game as Kvitova despatched venomous ground strokes from the baseline that the stooping Dane failed to control. This allowed the Czech to put away a succession of volleyed winners as she raced to the net. “She was trying to ... put the balls back — I am the person who is playing aggressively and going for the winners,” Kvitova told reporters. “I can play quite fast from the forehand, it’s my big stroke.” Receiving at 5-3 ahead, Kvitova left her opponent flat-footed with the power and depth of her return and the Dane could not find enough elevation on her backhand reply. That set up Kvitova — seeking a 10th tour singles title — to take the first set, slugging a forehand winner into the corner as Wozniacki moved the other way.

The Dane ended 2010 and 2011 as the top-ranked women’s player, but endured a tough 2012, slipping down the standings as she won just two singles titles and failed to make much impression at the grand slams.
The 2009 US Open finalist, girlfriend of golfer Rory McIlroy, seems more determined this year and in earlier rounds in Dubai she spoke of enjoying her tennis more. She dropped five games over the first two rounds and came from a set down to beat Marion Bartoli in the quarter-finals. But Kvitova proved too much for her, the Czech winning a third straight match between the pair. Wozniacki, now world No.10, came out fighting in the second set, breaking for the first time for a 3-2 lead after her fierce return dragged the Czech wide so she could land a winner on the opposite flank.

But Kvitova broke immediately and then for a fourth time to seal the match as the Dane scuffed a backhand volley wide. “It was very difficult, especially in the first set,” said Wozniacki. “I didn’t feel like I had many chances. She went for every shot and hit it deep. I came under pressure straightaway.” She was nevertheless upbeat about her showing in Dubai, her first semi-final appearance since Sofia in October.
“I have played some good tennis — it’s improving all the time,” Wozniacki added. The other semi-final was a clash between the world’s top-ranked doubles pairing, with Errani and Vinci having won three of the past four grand slams. They also practice together and that made for a strange encounter, with neither player celebrating winning key points. “It was very tough playing against a friend, sometimes it happens and you just have to try to play normally,” Errani said in a courtside interview.

The world number seven now has a 5-2 winning record against Vinci, coming out on top in their last five meetings including in last year’s US Open quarter-finals. Both players are petite by tennis standards and the match was more about finesse than power as they hugged the baseline. When Vinci did try to inject more power into her shots, she was often found wanting. The players traded breaks at the start of the second set and overall eight of the first 11 games went against serve. Errani, again playing with a heavily strapped left thigh, went 4-1 up in the second and she eventually saw out the match. In Memphis, top seed Marin Cilic saved three match points en route to a 7-6 (7/2), 3-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory over Igor Sijsling on Thursday to book a quarter-final berth in the US Indoor Tennis Championships. Croatia’s Cilic trailed 4-6 and then 6-7 in the third-set tiebreaker, but won the final three points to take the match from his Dutch foe.

Cilic next faces Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori, who beat qualifier Donald Young 6-3, 6-3. World number 63 Denis Istomin reached his fourth ATP quarter-final of the season, beating Australian veteran Lleyton Hewitt 6-1, 6-2. Istomin next faces lucky loser Michael Russell, who beat Lukasz Kubot of Poland 6-2, 6-4. In women’s action in this $1.58 million combined ATP and WTA event, top seed Kirsten Flipkens fell prey in the quarter-finals to the upset bug that saw second-seeded Sofia Arvidsson ousted in the second round. Seventh-seeded Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova, the winner of this title two years ago, defeated Flipkens 6-7 (11/13), 7-5, 6-3. In the semi-finals, Rybarikova will take on third-seeded German Sabine Lisicki, who cruised past eighth-seeded Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-3, 6-3. The other semi-final will pit Switzerland’s Stefanie Vogele against Marina Erakovic.

Vogele defeated fourth-seeded Briton Heather Watson 6-1, 6-2, and New Zealand’s Erakovic beat American Jamie Hampton 7-5, 6-2. In Buenos Aires, top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain outlasted hometown favorite David Nalbandian in three sets on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Copa Claro in the Argentine capital. Ferrer, the defending champion and No. 4 in the ATP rankings, won 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 and will face Fabio Fognini of Italy in the quarterfinals on Friday. No. 2 Nicolas Almagro of Spain also reached the quarterfinals on Thursday, defeating Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia 7-6 (5), 6-2. Almagro faces Federico Delbonis of Argentina in the next round. Ferrer and Almagro met in last year’s final, and they are headed that way again.

Nalbandian started quickly winning the first set but began to struggle to hold serve in the second. Ferrer took that set, breaking Nalbandian in the final game. After that, the Argentine offered little resistance going down 6-0. “David (Nalbandian) is a player who dominates from the start,” Ferrer said. “I knew to beat him it would have to be a long match - beating him physically.” Almagro also struggled in his first set. “It was not a very good match for me,” he said. “The important thing is being in the quarterfinals again.” Almagro won this tournament two years ago and was the runner-up last year to Ferrer. This is his sixth appearance in the quarterfinals. “It’s always nice coming here,” he said. “I feel really good and I feel loved by the people here. Six times in the quarterfinals says a lot, and a title, too.”