Tokyo: Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki overcame No. 5 Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 Friday to reach the semifinals of the Toray Pan-Pacific Open.

Wozniacki saved five break points in the fifth game of the deciding set before clinching the match after 2 hours, 12 minutes.

The Dane said “that was a long game, and holding that definitely gave me some confidence.”

She will next play Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, who defeated third-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain 7-6 (1), 6-1. Bencic saved three straight break points in the fourth game of the second set to hold for a 3-1 lead and swept the next three games to close out the win.

Indo-Swiss tennis combine of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis comfortably entered the women’s doubles semi-finals with a straight sets victory at the $250,000 (Dh917,950) Guangzhou Open here on Thursday.

The top seeds needed just an hour and five minutes to beat unseeded German-Romanian pairing of Anna-Lena Friedsam and Monica Niculescu 6-2, 6-3 in the quarter-finals, played on the centre court of the Guangzhou International Tennis Center.

The reigning US Open champions, Sania and Martina will next take on Israeli-Swedish combination of Julia Glushko and Rebecca Peterson on Friday.

In the quarter-finals, it was an easy outing for the current Wimbledon champions who broke Anna-Lena and Monica thrice in the first set, once more than the European pair, to easily take the first set.

The German-Romanian pair came back stronger in the second set but Sania and Martina needed only a break of serve to win the second set and the match.

In Seoul, unheralded Aliaksandra Sasnovich stunned American third seed Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-2 to reach the WTA Korea Open semi-finals on Friday.

The Belarusian world No. 136 provided a chastening reality check to Stephens, who is ranked 104 places higher and won her first WTA title in Washington last month.

Sasnovich, 21, will now face Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the semi-finals 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.