Wozniak Reaches Round of Eight in Osaka 

October 15, 2009

World No. 31 ousts Chang to set up yet another clash with arch-nemesis Wozniacki 

Aleksandra Wozniak (Blainville, QC) continued her winning ways at the HP Open on Thursday and awaits a familiar foe in the quarter-finals of the $220,000 International Series event currently underway in Osaka, Japan.  

The 22-year-old Canadian defeated qualifier Kai-Chen Chang of the Chinese Taipei, ranked No. 107 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings, 7-5, 7-6(2) to earn a berth in the final eight for the fourth time this season.   In Friday’s quarter-finals, Wozniak, seeded sixth in the tournament, will go up against her arch-nemesis and good friend Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, this week’s top seed in Osaka.

The match will be the fifth meeting between the two players in 2009 alone and sixth overall. Wozniak earned her first victory over the World No. 6 and recent U.S. Open finalist 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. 

Canadians perfect in Kansas City

Stéphanie Dubois (Laval, QC), Valérie Tétreault (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) and Rebecca Marino (Vancouver, BC) have all advanced to the Round of 16 at the $50,000 Price Chopper Women’s Challenger in Kansas City, Missouri. The Canadian trio, seeded third, fourth and eighth respectively in the singles draw, each posted straight sets triumphs in their opening round matches. Dubois defeated Croatian qualifier Ani Mijacika (No. 334) 7-5, 7-6(4) and will next take on Greta Arn of Hungary (No. 244). Tétreault made quick work of Argentina’s Augustine Lepore (No. 296) 6-3, 6-2 to set up a second round battle with another Argentinean, Jorgelina Cravero (No. 231). Meanwhile, Marino eliminated Laura Siegemund of Germany (No. 228) 7-5, 6-1 and will face American Alison Riske (No. 242) in her next match.    

Polansky continues title drive in Paraguay

While the ladies are wrapping up their seasons on hard courts, Peter Polansky (Thornhill, ON), ranked a career best No. 170 on the South African Airways ATP rankings, is fighting it out on clay at the $75,000 Copa Petrobas Challenger in Asuncion, Paraguay. The 21-year-old has reached the second round in both singles and doubles. In singles, he defeated Brazilian Ricardo Hocevar (No. 196) 6-1, 6-4 and will next take on fourth-seeded Santiago Ventura of Spain, ranked No. 105 in the world. In doubles, Polansky and his American partner Alex Bogomolov Jr. advanced thanks to a 6-4, 4-6, 10-3 win over Ramon Delgado and Sebastien Prieto. They will face the fourth-seeded pair of Hocevar and Joao Souza in the quarter-finals.