Kerber into Dubai SFs – two wins from world No.1

Top seed Angelique Kerber has journeyed to her first Dubai Tennis Championships semi-finals while Caroline Wozniacki reached the last four at the tournament for the sixth time.

Kerber, who is two match wins away from returning to the No. 1 ranking, beat Ana Konjuh of Croatia 6-3 6-2 in the quarter-finals on Thursday.

Kerber raced to 4-0, and won the remaining games from 2-2 in the second set.

She will play seventh seed Elina Svitolina. The Ukrainian improved her career record against Lauren Davis to 4-0 after defeating the American 6-0 6-4.

Kerber leads Svitolina 5-4 in career meetings, but Svitolina has won their last two matches, including last month’s Brisbane International.

“She won like the important moments in Brisbane,” Kerber said. “So I will just trying to take the positive things from the match. I will talk to my coach, and go out there tomorrow and take the new challenge.”

Wozniacki, who won the Dubai title in 2011, defeated Catherine Bellis 6-3 6-2.

The Dane reached the Doha final last week, losing the title to Karolina Pliskova. She’s played nine matches in the last nine days.

Bellis, the youngest player in the draw at 17, scored the biggest win of her six-month-old pro career on Wednesday when she upset her first top-10 player, sixth-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.

The American started the match confidently, jumping out to 3-1, but couldn’t sustain the momentum.

“It was really fun for me to see what the highest level is (like),” Bellis said.

In a fight strictly from the baseline, Wozniacki won the next nine games to lead 6-3, 4-0.

She will play Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia for a place in the final. The world No.35 reached her first semi-final of the season via a 6-4 7-5 win over Wang Qiang of China.

“She’s a player that mixes the pace up quite a bit,” Wozniacki said of Sevastova. “She’s definitely going to try and get me out of my own rhythm.”