SAMANTHA Stosur’s week again ended early after a defeat to Jelena Jankovic in the quarter-finals of the WTA Dubai tournament. The Australian fourth seed, who was the beaten finalist in Doha last week but has otherwise not got past the third round in 2012, lost 6-4, 6-2 to the Serbian eighth seed who will now play Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska in the semi-finals after the fifth seed easily beat Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-2, 6-1.
The key was my return,” Jankovic said. “She has one of the best, if not the best, serves in the women’s game, and it’s never easy to return against her.
“So I was really focused on that and tried to make as many returns as possible, and then I would feel comfortable afterwards.
“Usually she likes to serve and then dictate the point with her forehand. I didn’t really allow her to do that today – I kind of broke her rhythm and was pretty much in control the whole time.”
World number four Caroline Wozniacki defeated Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 7-5 to set-up a semi-final against Julia Goerges who beat Daniela Hantuchova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Denmark’s Wozniacki, who won this event last year, is the highest remaining seed after the top two seeds Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova withdrew before the tournament begun.
“Ana really stepped it up in the second set, took the balls very early and just played really well, actually. She took her chances and had nothing to lose,” Wozniacki said.
“I’m happy to have hung in there. I think the first set wasn’t the best tennis from either of us, but I came out on top, which was great. I already had that first set in my pocket, so it was easier to play afterwards.