Wozniacki reaches U.S. Open semis

New York -- Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open for the second straight year Wednesday by ousting Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets.

Wozniacki defeated the unseeded Cibulkova 6-2, 7-5 to set up a semifinal meeting with Vera Zvonareva.

Zvonareva advanced earlier in the day with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Kaia Kanepi.

In her first 29 major championship appearances, Zvonareva reached the semifinals only once. Now she has made it to the semifinals in two consecutive grand slam tournaments, having also done so two months ago at Wimbledon.

Wozniacki earned a spot in last year's U.S. Open championship match before falling to Kim Clijsters. She has made it as far as the quarterfinals in only one other grand slam tourney, that being this year's French Open.

Cibulkova was up a service break in the second set but she eventually made 43 unforced errors to just 18 for Wozniacki.

In Friday's other semifinal, Venus Williams takes on defending champion Clijsters.

Clijsters has won the last two U.S. Opens in which she has competed -- 2005 and 2009. The semifinal will be only the second for Williams in her last nine major events.

Williams has won seven major titles and will be trying to capture a spot in the title match of a grand slam event for the 15th time. She has a 7-7 record in those championship matches.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).

No votes yet