Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard took just 68 minutes to storm into the semifinals of the rain-interrupted Hobart International Thursday. The former world No. 5 came on the court late in the evening after hours of rain delays to inflict a 6-3, 6-2 win over Italian second seed Camila Giorgi. Bouchard set up a semifinal Friday with world No. 37 and third seed Dominika Cibulkova of the Slovak Republic. "I'm happy I was able to have a lot of energy considering how long we waited today," Bouchard said. She said staying mentally prepared for the match during the frustrating rain delays was one of the toughest challenges. "I tried not to think too much about it (the match). I don't want to play the match five times over in my head before I actually step out onto the court. "But it's the same for both players so I can't really complain, that is the way tennis is. You can't compete against mother nature." Cibulkova overcame Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens, 7-5, 6-3 in a match that spanned more than seven hours, including three lengthy rain interruptions. France's Alize Cornet strolled into the semis without playing a shot after her ninth seeded German opponent Mona Barthel withdrew before their match with a back injury. Cornet will play Swede Johanna Larsson, who overcame exhausted defending champion Heather Watson in the early hours of Friday. Watson won her held-over second round match 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) and saved three match points in the process against Romanian fourth seed Monica Niculescu. Then she came out near midnight on a cold night but could not sustain her form after winning the opening set to bow out 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Larsson in two hours 12 minutes. Weather wreaks havoc In Sydney, a violent thunderstorm and persistent rain prevented any of the scheduled singles tennis matches from being completed on women's semifinal and men's quarterfinals day at the Sydney International Thursday. Simona Halep, the second seed for next week's Australian Open, was one of a string of top players whose hopes of getting a good workout before the year's opening Grand Slam were stymied by the weather. The Romanian top seed was leading 5-4 in the opening set of her semifinal encounter with one of her predecessors as world number two, Svetlana Kuznetsova, when the rain stopped played for the second and final time for the day. Costa Rican qualifier Monica Puig had even more reason to be frustrated by the weather as she had raced to a 4-0 15-0 lead in her final-four match against Swiss Belinda Bencic. Weather permitting, both women's semi finals and all four men's quarterfinals will be completed after a morning start Friday, with the women's final and men's last four contests following in the evening. Former Wimbledon semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov got closest to a victory Thursday, having come from a set down to lead his quarterfinal against Alexandr Dolgopolov 4-6, 6-3, 4-2. Ferrer reaches semis Four-time champion David Ferrer kept alive one ritual and American Jack Sock tried starting another at Auckland's ASB Classic Thursday. The top-seeded Ferrer reached the semifinals for the sixth time after beating Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-4, and advanced to play Sock. The 26th-ranked Sock upset fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, and began a new post-match ritual by removing one sock and handing it to a fan. Second-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced to the semis on his first visit to Auckland, but only after a difficult struggle with No. 6-seeded Fabio Fognini. Tsonga won 7-5, 7-6 (4) in a match which turned on single points in the late stages of both sets. The 10th-ranked Tsonga will next play eighth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut, who beat two-time champion John Isner 7-5, 2-6, 6-3. Almagro advances In the Kooyong Classic exhibition in Melbourne, Nicolas Almagro beat Hyeon Chung of South Korea 6-2, 6-2, and 2006 Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (3), 6-3. Meanwhile, Briton Kyle Edmund handed Australian teenager Omar Jasika a third loss at the Grand Slam tune-up event. Edmund, who played the opening rubber in November as Britain won the Davis Cup over Belgium, defeated Jasika 6-3, 6-3.
