Kvitova, Wozniacki cruise into New Haven semis
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Second seed Petra Kvitova and reigning four- time champion Caroline Wozniacki were easy quarterfinal winners Thursday at the $637,000 New Haven Open at Yale, a final U.S. Open tune-up.
Kvitova, last year's Wimbledon champion, downed eighth-seeded fellow Czech Lucie Safarova, 6-3, 6-3. Kvitova clinched the U.S. Open series title. If she wins the U.S. Open, she will get a $1 million bonus on top of the prize money from the final major of the year. A runner-up finish would earn her $500,000.
Wozniacki, the third-seeded former world No. 1 star improved to 20-0 lifetime in New Haven with a 70-minute 6-2, 6-1 dismantling of sixth-seeded Slovak Dominika Cibulkova on the hardcourts at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale.
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The Danish star beat Czech Petra Cetkovska in last year's New Haven finale.
The 2009 U.S. Open runner-up Wozniacki's semifinal opponent on Friday will be seventh-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko, who flattened Belarusian qualifier Olga Govortsova 6-1, 6-2 in 1 hour, 23 minutes. Kirilenko lost to world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka in the bronze-medal match at the London Olympic Games earlier this month.
In the final match of the night, fourth-seeded Italian Sara Errani, this year's French Open runner-up, downed former Wimbledon runner-up and fifth- seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli, 6-4, 6-2.
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The 2012 New Haven champion will collect $107,000.