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Wozniacki reaches Ericsson Open semifinals

[July 29, 2017] The Sports Xchange

Caroline Wozniacki faced little resistance on Friday en route to advancing to the semifinals of the Ericsson Open in Bastad, Sweden.

The top-seeded Dane saved five of six break points and breezed to a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Kozlova.

"I definitely played better today and kept focused the whole way through," Wozniacki said. "... I tried to stay aggressive, even in the last couple of games when she had 40-0. I stayed with it, hitting aggressive returns and aggressive shots. It worked out."

The former No. 1 player resides two victories shy of her first title of the season.

Wozniacki will vie for the first win on Saturday when she faces Belgian Elise Mertens, who posted a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia.

Mertens reached her first clay-court final back in April at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup.

Third-seeded Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia outlasted Czech qualifier Barbora Krejcikova, recording 10 aces to notch a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory.

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"I started well, but things got complicated," Garcia said. "She changed her game a little bit and I couldn't find my rhythm again. I just kept fighting to the end; my game is to be aggressive, so that's what I was trying to do. It wasn't always great but I'm very happy with the win."

After Krejcikova evened the match at a set apiece, Garcia broke her foe's bid to serve for the match before winning in two hours and 12 minutes.

"I had a lot of opportunities on her serve in the second and third sets," Garcia said. "She kept fighting and I lost my focus; we know in tennis that things can go very fast one way or the other. I just tried to stay calm."

Garcia advances to face seventh-seeded Czech Katerina Siniakova, who also needed three sets upend second-seeded Latvian Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.

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