HONG KONG: Top seed Sabine Lisicki will face-off against Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova in the final of the WTA Hong Kong Open after both players ploughed through toughly contested semi-final matches on Saturday.

Germany’s Lisicki defeated former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in the semi-finals for the $250,000 WTA tournament at the southern Chinese city’s Victoria Park.

Lisicki stumbled in the second set following a feisty performance by the unseeded Schiavone, but bounced back to win the match in a decisive third set.

“It was a great semifinals, not only for the crowd, but for us as well with long, fun rallies. It’s always fun to play those kinds of matches and come out on top,” Lisicki told reporters in a post-match press conference.

In another three-set match, Pliskova dispatched Belgium’s Van Uytvanck, who put up a hardy performance, in around two hours of play in the scorching heat.

Third-seed Pliskova, ranked 36 in the world, set the tempo early in the match against Van Uytvanck, world number 91, but lost momentum in the second set. The Czech ultimately won the match 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

VENUS ADVANCES INTO SEMIS

QUEBEC CITY: Top-seeded Venus Williams moved on to the semi-final of the Coupe Banque Nationale on Friday with a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 victory over Lucie Hradecka.

Although the two players had faced each other a few times in doubles, it was their first encounter in a singles match.

Venus, who will be participating in her fourth semi-final of the year after Oakland, Dubai and the Rogers Cup in Montreal, will next take on fourth seed and compatriot Shelby Rogers, who dismissed Germany’s Tatjana Maria 6-4, 6-2.

Fifth seed Julia Goerges topped Andrea Hlavackova 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 6-2 to set up a last-four clash against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni who eliminated Sesil Karatantcheva 7-5, 6-0.

Published in Dawn, September 14th , 2014