Aleksandra Wozniak (Blainville, QC) was shown the door by an all too familiar opponent on Friday at the HP Open, a $220,000 International Series event currently underway in Osaka, Japan.  

The 22-year-old Canadian, ranked No. 31 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings, fell 6-2, 6-7(1), 6-2 to her arch-nemesis, World No. 6 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the quarter-finals. The loss marks the fourth time this season that the recent U.S. Open finalist has defeated Wozniak in singles play and fifth overall in six matches. Wozniak’s lone victory against her good friend came two weeks ago at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo when Wozniacki was forced to retire from their second round match because of illness with Wozniak leading 5-0 in the opening set. Wozniacki had won their four previous encounters, the first two by lopsided scores and the next two were come from behind victories. 

Wozniak will now head to Russia to play her final event of 2009 in Moscow next week. She will contest her second indoor tournament of the year against a tough field at the Kremlin Cup, a $1 million Premier Tour stop.  

Canadian trio into Kansas City Quarters

Stéphanie Dubois (Laval, QC), Valérie Tétreault (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) and Rebecca Marino (Vancouver, BC) have all reached the quarter-finals at the $50,000 Price Chopper Women’s Challenger in Kansas City, Missouri. Dubois, seeded third in the tournament, defeated Hungary’s Greta Arn (No. 244) 6-1, 7-6(1) in Thursday’s Round of 16 to set up a quarter-final clash with her compatriot Marino. Eighth-seeded Marino ousted American Alison Riske (No. 242) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 to earn a berth in the final eight. For her part, Tétreault, seeded fourth in the event, posted a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Jorgelina Cravero of Argentina (No. 231) and will go up against Anna Tatishvili of Georgia (No. 186) in the quarter-finals which will be played on Friday.   

Bouchard and Paliivets reach semis in Tulsa

Half of the semifinal line up in the girls’ singles draw at the Pan American Closed Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma will be made up of Canadians as Eugenie Bouchard (Westmount, QC) and Katarena Paliivets (Richmond Hill, ON) have both earned a berth in the final four. Bouchard, seeded eighth in the tournament and ranked No. 76 on the ITF Junior Rankings, defeated American Rachel Kahan (No, 185) 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3 in the quarter-finals. The 15-year-old will next take on fifth-seeded Monica Puig of Puerto Rico (No. 58) Meanwhile, Paliivets, seeded fourth and ranked No. 59 in the world, made quick work of American qualifier Mia Lanacaster (No. 1041) 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the semifinals where she will face seventh-seeded American Ester Goldfeld (No. 67). Visit www.itftennis.com/juniors  for all of the latest results.