Petra Kvitova & Eugenie Bouchard reach Wuhan Open semi-finals

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Petra Kvitova beats Caroline Garcia in the Wuhan OpenImage source, AFP
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Kvitova said she was wary of Garcia's "very aggressive" baseline game in her quarter-final victory

Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova moved into the semi-finals of the inaugural Wuhan Open in China with a 6-3 6-4 win over France's Caroline Garcia.

After beating the world number 49, Czech third seed Kvitova said she was now "more relaxed" on court.

"I think that my mind is a little bit clearer than it was. That's probably that I'm playing better," Kvitova said.

Canadian sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard also sealed a semi-final place, beating Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6-3 7-5.

Image source, AFP
Image caption,

Eugenie Bouchard survived a late fightback from Alize Cornet to reach the semi-finals

The 20-year-old, who lost to Kvitova in this year's Wimbledon final, was too strong for Cornet, despite a late fightback from 5-2 down to 5-5 in the second set.

Bouchard took the next two games and the match, but said: "I feel like I could have closed much better. There is no excuse for that. That's something I really need to work on is closing out better in my matches. It's happened a few times this week."

Cornet, ranked 22nd in the world, had progressed in the earlier rounds after world number one Serena Williams retired with illness.

Kvitova will face Elina Svitolina in the first semi-final of the £1.5m hardcourt event after the Ukrainian beat German seventh seed Angelique Kerber 6-4 7-6 (7-3) in one hour and 40 minutes.

Bouchard meets eighth seed Caroline Wozniacki after the Dane overcame Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky - who knocked out Maria Sharapova in the third round.

Wozniacki dropped the first set, but recovered to win 4-6 6-2 6-3 in two hours and seven minutes.

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