TOKYO — Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki battled back after a mid-match slump to beat Angelique Kerber of Germany Friday and book a place in the semifinals of the Pan Pacific Open. Needing some strong results on the Asian swing to force her way into next month's WTA Finals, Wozniacki reached the last four with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over Kerber, who had won three of their last four clashes. “It was a tough match — it always is when I play Angelique,” said Wozniacki, who won the Tokyo event in 2010 and was runner-up last year. “I started off well in the first set. I was playing well, and she was making quite a few errors. Second set it turned around, but it was competitive towards the end, and in the third set I thought we both played at a really high level.” Wozniacki's semifinal opponent will be Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, who defeated Garbine Muguruza of Spain 7-6 (1) 6-1. The defending champion, Serbia's Ana Ivanovic, was knocked out in Friday's quarterfinals by Dominika Cibulkova, losing 7-6 (5) 6-3 to the Slovakian. Cibulkova will play the 2011 Pan Pacific champion, Agnieszka Radwanska after the Pole overcame big-hitting Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7-5 6-2. Jankovic advances In China, Serbia's Jelena Jankovic came from three points down in the 11th game of the deciding set to break Yanina Wickmayer's serve and advance to the Guangzhou International final with a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 win Friday. Jankovic also fought off a match point in the 10th game of the final set to help end an eight-match winning streak by Wickmayer. The Belgian player won her first WTA title in more than five years at the Japan Open last week, and won three more matches in Guangzhou this week. Denisa Allertova of Czech Republic, who upset top-seeded Simona Halep of Romania in straight sets in the quarterfinals, continued her strong form with a 7-5, 6-2 win over No. 3 Sara Errani of Italy in the second semifinal. Sasnovich shocks Stephens In Seoul, unheralded Aliaksandra Sasnovich stunned American third seed Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-2 to reach the WTA Korea Open semifinals Friday. Sasnovich, 21, will now face Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the semifinals after the Slovakian second seed beat Germany's Mona Barthel 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. In the other half Romanian top seed Irina Begu, ranked 29th in the world, defeated Swedish veteran Johanna Larsson 6-4, 7-5. Belgium's Alison Van Uytvanck, seeded eighth, needed three sets to beat Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 and set up a semi with Begu. Wawrinka withdraws In France, Swiss world No. 4 Stan Wawrinka has withdrawn from the ATP Moselle Open in the French city of Metz with an ankle injury, organizers said. Wawrinka, who was the top seed, suffered the injury during his second-round victory in three sets against Germany's Dustin Brown Thursday. Wawrinka had been due to face fifth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber in the quarterfinals so the German will now advance to the last four on a walkover. — Agencies
