Wuhan Open: Petra Kvitova sets up Dominika Cibulkova date

Dominika Cibulkova returns to Svetlana Kuznetsova. (Photo: AFP)

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova dropped just three games to dismiss Simona Halep in two sets in the semifinals at the Wuhan Open on Friday.

The Czech defeated Halep 6-1, 6-2 to reach her second final at the $2.6 million hard court event.

Despite the loss, by reaching the semifinals Halep has booked her spot in the year-ending eight-player WTA Finals for the third consecutive year.

Kvitova will meet Dominika Cibulkova in the final on Saturday, after the Slovak rallied from one set down to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Sania-Strycova in final Sania Mirza earned herself a shot at another WTA title by reaching the summit clash with Czech partner Barbora Strycova in the women’s doubles event.

The third seeds beat second seed Taipei team of Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 in the semi-finals. In the quarter-finals, Sania and Strycova had got the better of Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 7-6 (5).

Berdych, Bellucci in last-four Beijing: Top seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic overcame his countryman and eighth seed Jiri Vesely 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-2 to enter the Shenzhen Open semi-finals on Friday.

Berdych will face Thomaz Bellucci on Saturday after the Brazilian bulldozed over fourth seed Bernard Tomic 6-2, 6-2.

Third seed Richard Gasquet of France squeezed past German qualifier Mischa Zverev 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) to win a place in the semi-finals against Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.

Top seed Dominic Thiem of Austria was upset 1-6, 4-6 by Albert Ramos-Vinolas at the ATP Chengdu Open on Friday.

Third seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria bounced back to prevail in a two-hour, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 clash with Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.

Rising Russian star Karen Khachanov took 73 minutes to fell fourth-seed Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4 and will face sixth-seed Viktor Troicki, who notched a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory over Kevin Anderson of South Africa.