Tennis bits: Caroline Wozniacki cruises into Auckland semi-final tilt with Sloane Stephens

American qualifier Samantha Crawford continued her breakout run at the Brisbane International by storming into her first WTA semi-final after pummelling Andrea Petkovic while Ukraine is into Hopman Cup final.

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark looks on during the 2016 ASB Classic at the ASB Tennis Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

WELLINGTON // Former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki trounced Alexandra Dulgheru for the loss of just one game to reach the WTA Auckland Classic semi-finals on Thursday.

The third seed, who has not dropped a set all week, took only 52 minutes to overwhelm Romania’s Dulgheru 6-1, 6-0 and set up a last-four clash with American Sloane Stephens.

The second semi-final will be between Germany’s Julia Goerges and qualifier Tamira Paszek from Austria, whose head-to-head record is 2-2.

They benefited from being in the same half of the draw as the top two seeds, Venus Williams and Ana Ivanovic, who were first round casualties.

Paszek, ranked 172nd in the world, survived a three-hour marathon quarter-final against Kirsten Flipkens from Belgium, finally winning 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3.

Flipkens was down 1-4 in the second set before winning it on a tie-break, and she recovered from 0-5 to 3-5 in the final set before Paszek got over the line.

“I’m delighted that I was strong enough mentally to focus and deal with the setbacks and actually close out the match,” said Paszek, 25.

Goerges also came through a three-set quarter-final when she came from behind to beat Japan’s Nao Hibino 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 6-4.

Stephens, the fifth seed, ended the run of popular Briton Naomi Broady, who conquered second seed Ivanovic in the first round.

Broady hinted at another shock when she took the first set to a tiebreak. But Stephens clicked into gear to reach the semis 7-6 (8/6), 6-3.

Samantha Crawford crushes Andrea Petkovic in Brisbane and Milos Raonic wins

BRISBANE // American qualifier Samantha Crawford continued her breakout run at the Brisbane International by storming into her first WTA semi-final after pummelling Andrea Petkovic on Thursday.

The 20-year-old Atlanta native, ranked 142nd in the world, blasted 22 winners against the befuddled German in a 6-3 6-0 rout to further enhance her reputation, although the former U.S. Open junior champion was surprised about her achievement.

“It happened fast. I was trying to not think about it too much, not psych myself out,” Crawford said.

“Right after I won, on the on-court interview I was like shaking, and then in the locker room I was like sitting for just like a little bit.

“But yeah, this is awesome.”

Crawford is playing in just her sixth WTA Tour event and her strong showing at an event which has seen the top seeds succumb to injuries should bring her inside the top 100 for the first time.

The American, who spent time growing up in China and speaks fluent Mandarin, has yet to drop a set in Brisbane after dispatching another rising talent Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the second round.

She faces either twice Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka or U.S. Open finalist Roberta Vinci for a place in the final.

Germany’s Angelique Kerber also booked a semi-final spot in Brisbane as she beat Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenko 6-4 6-4.

At number four, the German is the best ranked seed remaining after injury robbed the tournament of Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza.

Kerber said she wasn’t surprised by the glut of withdrawals ahead of the year’s first grand slam, the Australian Open, which starts on Jan. 18.

“We had two months off. It’s not so easy to start the year and to come back,” she said.

“The most important thing to think is to start easy, not playing the first matches 100 percent because I think you need time with the weather, jet lag, everything.”

In the men’s draw, big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic battled through to the last eight with a 6-7 (2) 6-1 6-4 win over Croatian Ivan Dodig, but Belgian sixth seed David Goffin departed in three sets against Frenchman Lucas Pouille.

Swiss Roger Federer gets his Brisbane campaign underway in Thursday’s night session when he takes on Germany’s Tobias Kamke.

Ukraine into Hopman Cup final

PERTH // Ukraine advanced to their second Hopman Cup final with a 2-1 win over Australia Gold in Perth on Thursday.

The home team needed to win the tie to stay alive, but Ukraine claimed both singles matches to ensure they finished their round robin phase unbeaten in three ties.

The Australian combination of Lleyton Hewitt and Jarmila Wolfe won the dead mixed-doubles rubber in a match tiebreak.

The pairing of Alexandr Dolgopolov and Elina Svitolina, who have both won all their singles matches this week, will play in Saturday’s final.

Ukraine’s previous appearance at the Hopman Cup was back in 1995, when siblings Andrei Medvedev and Natalia Medvedeva reached the final.

They were beaten 3-0 in the decider by the German pairing of Boris Becker and Anke Huber.

After Svitolina gave Ukraine the early advantage with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Wolfe, Dolgopolov came from a set down to beat Hewitt and put them into the final.

Dolgopolov said his form was not as good as in his previous two singles wins, but he knew he needed to eke out a win over Hewitt.

“Today was a tough match, he’s not easy to play, and it was not easy to come back,” he said.

“I didn’t want to go to third match at 1-1, we’d lost both our mixed doubles and we needed to win this match.

“It means a lot, I get a bit more nervous (playing for Ukraine) than in my own tournaments, and the whole country is watching.

“There is just one match left now and that’s the final.”

Svitolina continued her impressive form this week by outclassing Wolfe in quick time.

The world number 19 has been in brilliant singles form and has not dropped a set in the tournament, having also beaten the 11th-ranked Karolina Pliskova.

That left Australia Gold needing straight sets wins in the men’s singles and mixed doubles to be a chance of reaching the final.

That dream was alive briefly when Hewitt, in his eighth and final appearance in Perth, took the first set against Dolgopolov.

However, the 36th-ranked Ukrainian took the second set off the dual Grand Slam champion to scuttle Hewitt’s hopes of a fairytale Hopman Cup ending.

Dolgopolov then launched Ukraine into the final by taking the third set to complete a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.

Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE

Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport