Woz wilts in Sydney heat as Strycova prevails

Caroline Wozniacki's eighth attempt at reaching the Sydney International semifinals wilted in the stifling Australian heat on Wednesday with the former world number one going down to Barbora Strycova in a three-set slugfest.

Strycova prevailed 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-4 over her 10th seeded Danish opponent in a three-hour and 20 minute marathon played out in temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius at the Ken Rosewall Arena. 

The 30-year-old Czech next meets second seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat Chinese qualifier Duan Yingying 6-3, 6-2 in the last quarterfinal of the day at the Australian Open warmup event.

Wozniacki has never progressed beyond the quarterfinals in Sydney and she appeared to be heading for a straight-sets defeat when Strycova claimed the opener and raced to a 5-0 lead in the tiebreaker of the next.

Wozniacki, however, won seven of the next eight points to force a decider but the unseeded Strycova reeled off the last three games to seal victory under the scorching sun.

"You just try and think like you're on a beach drinking pina coladas," Wozniacki joked.

"That's basically your train of thought. You know that it's the same for both players, so I was just trying to mentally just try and keep cool. But it was really, really hot out there.

"On the positive side of things, I can eat whatever I want now because I have burned a lot of calories today," she said.

Canadian Eugenie Bouchard and British number one Johanna Konta kept it simple in their quarter-finals to set up a last four showdown after straight-set victories.

Sydney-born Konta, the sixth seed, won 6-3 7-5 against Russian teenager Daria Kasatkina, who had stunned world number one Angelique Kerber in the second round.

Former Wimbledon finalist Bouchard beat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-3 to continue her good early season form after a dismal couple of years following her breakthrough campaign in 2014.

"I don't want to get too happy after a win or too sad after a loss, so, for me, it's just a good step in the right direction," the Canadian world number 49 said.

"I know there is a long way to go to achieve what I want.

"To match up against solid players like I have this week, it's a very tough tournament here. So I'm proud of that, for sure."

Source :Times Of Oman