Wozniacki books semifinal spot in Tokyo

Oct 3, 2008 - 6:10 AM TOKYO (Ticker) -- Caroline Wozniacki erased the memory of her last two tournaments at the $175,000 AIG Japan Open.

The top-seeded Wozniacki booked a spot in the semifinals on Friday with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over seventh seed Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.

The world No. 16, Wozniacki won her first two career titles at Stockholm and New Haven in August before making a respectable run to the fourth round at the U.S. Open. However, the Denmark native was ousted in the first round in her last two appearances, at the Pan Pacific Open and in Beijing.

Wozniacki's return trip to Tokyo has been far more successful. She advanced to the final four with a carefree win against Tanasugarn in a match that lasted 1 hour, 37 minutes.

The 18-year-old next will face lucky loser Jarmila Gajdosova of Slovakia, who forged a 7-5, 7-5 triumph over Czech Klara Zakopalova in their quarterfinal match at this Tier III hardcourt event.

In the bottom half of the draw, fifth-seed Kaia Kanepi overcame seven double faults to earn a 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-1) win against Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. A native of Estonia, Kanepi advanced to take on No. 8 seed Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada, who cruised to a 7-5, 6-3 victory against Australia's Samantha Stosur in 1 hour, 15 minutes.

Wozniak, who won her first career title at Stanford in July, is looking to advance to her third final of the season.

First prize is $28,000.