• US Open, Women's Draw

Wozniacki breezes into semis

Caroline Wozniacki - or was it Lady Gaga? - struggled in the windy conditions © Getty Images

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Caroline Wozniacki defeated Dominika Cibulkova - and blustery conditions - to take her place in the semi-finals of the US Open.

Wind gusts tested the skills and patience of both players but it was Wozniacki's ability to minimise errors that helped her to a 6-2 7-5 victory.

The breeze halted play as it blew debris across centre court and Wozniacki hit three double faults as she was broken in her first service game, but the top seed recovered to take the first set in quick time.

Her confidence seemed to subside though as Cibulkova took a more aggressive approach from the baseline in the second set, and Wozniacki had to battle to get to 5-5 as the conditions proved to be a leveller in what would usually be a mismatch.

Wozniacki showed an attribute of a potential champion by finding a way to win when not playing well. She opted for an all-out safety strategy by sacrificing placement and power to keep the ball in court at all costs. Cibulkova hit the odd winner but her 43 unforced errors stacked up to allow Wozniacki to win the last two games and take a relieving victory.

Wozniacki said after the match: "It felt like playing in a hurricane! But it was the same for both players and I was happy to get through."

Vera Zvonareva progressed to the semi-finals with a gritty 6-3 7-5 win over Kaia Kanepi.

The seventh seed has been in fine form at the slams this year and followed up her run to the Wimbledon final victory in New York. It was not tennis out of the top drawer, with both players frustrated by the blustery conditions, and there were 11 breaks of serve in the match.

Zvonareva reined in her usual attacking instincts and her conservative approach paid off as Kanepi made a string of unforced errors. Kanepi ceded the opening set with a whimper, but showed more determination in the second which started with four breaks of serve.

It looked like the second set would head for a breaker, but Zvonareva pulled out a superb lob to put Kanepi under pressure and two backhand errors from the Estonian handed the match to the Russia.

"It was very tough out there today for both of us," Zvonareva said. "We tried to show our best today and sometimes we had some ridiculous rallies but I was putting all the effort into trying to hang in there no matter what the conditions are and I'm really happy the way I pulled it out today.

"In these conditions the most important thing is to find the right balance between being aggressive and being patient, between keeping the ball in play and going for your shots. I think I was able to find that balance."

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