Williams, Wozniacki keep the dice rolling in Auckland

Auckland, January 8

Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki prolonged their one-time-only doubles partnership today when they won through to the semifinals of the ASB Classic.

Playing together for the first time in their careers, Williams and Wozniacki beat top-seeded Johanna Larsson of Sweden and Caroline Dolehide of the United States 6-2 6-1. The match against Larsson and Dolehide, both accomplished doubles partnerships, was the toughest test of their partnership. Larsson has 13 doubles titles and Dolehide has been a US Open doubles semifinalist.

Wozniacki will play Lauren Davis in the second round of singles tomorrow, while Williams will play fellow American Christina McHale.

Eugenie Bouchard also progressed to the quarterfinals with a 6-4 6-4 win over eighth-seeded Caroline Garcia. Bouchard. The 25-year-old Canadian showed signs of a return to form as she beat Garcia in 88 minutes. However, she incurred a time violation at set point in the first set but held serve, then closed out the match at her first opportunity.

World No. 15 Petra Marcic, the No. 2 seed, lost 3-6 6-4 6-4 to France’s Alize Cornet, who finished 2019 outside the top-50 for the first time in eight years. Cornet sealed the match after 2 hours, 16 minutes with three consecutive aces. — AP

Muguruza reaches Shenzhen quarters

Shenzhen: Garbine Muguruza won consecutive matches for the first time since last year’s French Open when she beat American Shelby Rogers 6-1 7-6(2) to advance to the quarterfinals of the Shenzhen Open today. Muguruza will now face Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas who beat Russia’s Anna Blinkova 6-1 6-7(9) 6-4 in a match that lasted two hours and 45 minutes. Wang Qiang overcame Aliaksandra Sasnovich, recording a 6-4 0-6 7-6(5) victory. Reuters