One Radwanska Left in Brussels As Kanepi Reaches Semis

By Erik Gudris

Photo Credit: AP Photo

(May 24th, 2012) She may profess to not exactly liking clay, but you wouldn't know it from watching top seed Agnieszka Radwanska as she cruised into the semifinals of the Brussels Open. Awaiting her is a woman who will hope to finally earn her first win ever over the talented Polish star.

Both Radwanska sisters were in action today but it was the oldest Radwanska who had the easier day as she dismissed Belgian wildcard Alison Van Uytvanck 6-2, 6-1 in just over an hour. Radwanska saved six of seven break points against her while her opponent only managed to win 34% of her return points.

Awaiting Radwanska is Estonia's Kaia Kanepi who defeated Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3, 6-1 after Kanepi broke through in the seventh game of the first set and never looked back. Kanepi will now face Radwanska having lost to her in their last three previous meetings, but this match will be their first against each other on clay, a surface that Kanepi definitely likes.

"I grew up on clay. I love playing on clay anytime. You get time to build the points up, and I like that," Kanepi said. "We've played before and she's a very good player. I just want to play well and take my chances when they come."

A hoped for all-Radwanska final won't come to pass as younger sister Urszula Radwanska saw her good run from qualifying this week come to an end at the hands of Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson who won 7-5, 6-4. Though Arvidsson has won the Memphis title twice in her career, this will be the biggest semifinal showing for her at WTA Premier event.

Arvidsson's opponent will be Simona Halep who endured a topsy-turvy match against No. 4 seed Dominika Cibulkova. Cibulkova blanked Halep in the opening set but it was Halep who stormed back to take the second set and then open up a 3-0 lead in the third.

A rain delay forced play to halt and when it resumed it was Cibulkova who looked the more focused of the two as she closed the gap to 2-3. But Halep once again resumed control and served for the match at 5-2, but then dropped serve. Cibulkova was two points away from forcing Halep to serve for the match again but she couldn't close and Halep earned a 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 win.

This is Halep's fourth WTA semifinal and will be a first time meeting between her and Arvidsson.