Barbora Strycova wins thriller against Caroline Wozniacki in Sydney
ByPA Sport
Updated 11/01/2017 at 12:52 GMT
Barbora Strycova survived a marathon against Caroline Wozniacki in the Sydney heat to reach the semi-finals of the Apia International.
Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic puts a bag of ice on her face to cool down in her game against Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.
Image credit: Eurosport
The pair battled for three hours and 20 minutes before the Czech claimed a 7-5 6-7 (6/8) 6-4 victory.
Strycova had seemed poised for victory in the second set but could not serve it out and then let a 5-0 lead in the tie-break slip away.
There was a happy outcome in the end, though, for the world number 19, who next meets second seed Agnieszka Radwanska.
Wozniacki was able to look on the bright side, saying of the heat on wtatennis.com: " You just try and think like you're on a beach drinking pina coladas.
"I was just trying to mentally 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."
Radwanska was a much more comfortable 6-3 6-2 winner over qualifier Duan Ying-Ying, while the other semi-final will pit sixth seed Johanna Konta against Eugenie Bouchard.
Konta put an end to the run of Russian Daria Kasatkina, who defeated world number one Angelique Kerber in round two, winning 6-3 7-5.
Bouchard, meanwhile, continued her encouraging form with a 6-2 6-3 victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The Canadian won her only previous clash with Konta in the second round of Wimbledon last year.
At the Hobart International, top seed Kiki Bertens reached the quarter-finals with a 6-1 6-4 win over Galina Voskoboeva.
Japanese qualifier Risa Ozaki knocked out former top-five player Lucie Safarova while there were also wins for Lesia Tsurenko and Shelby Rogers.
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