Aisam, Rojer through to Stockholm Open semis

Third seed Wozniacki enters semis in Kremlin Cup.

STOCKHOLM: Pakistan tennis ace Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his Dutch partner Jean-Julien Rojer qualified for the Stockholm Open semi-finals after their opponents Marcos Baghdati of Cyprus and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland retired yesterday.

Earlier, the duo had beaten Colombia’s Alejandro Falla and Spain’s Albert Ramos 6-3, 7-5 in the first round on Wednesday.

Aisam and Roger will face Brazil duo Marcelo Melo and Joao Soares in the semi-final today.

Wozniacki registers win over Cibulkova

Third-seed Caroline Wozniacki defeated defending champion Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia to advance to the WTA semi-finals of the Kremlin Cup yesterday.

Former world number one Wozniacki won 6-2, 6-7 (1/7), 6-1 to record her ninth win over Cibulkova, who is 14th in the WTA rankings, in their 12th head-to-head meeting.

“It was a very good match today as both of us played very well,” said Wozniacki.

“The difference at the end was that I could just keep my highest level up and I managed to win the most important points, especially at the beginning of the third set.”

Wozniacki will now face Sofia Avidsson of Sweden in today’s semi-final.

Avidsson saw off seventh seed Maria Kirilenko, the last Russian player in the draw, with a 6-3, 6-3 win.

Meanwhile, in the ATP section of the event, Malek Jaziri saw off Czech Lukas Rosol in straight sets 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 to become the first Tunisian player to reach a semi-final.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2012.