Top seed Sabine Lisicki and former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone will meet in the last-four of the WTA Hong Kong Open after winning their quarter-final matches Friday. Lisicki, from Germany, defeated China's Zheng Saisai 6-4, 6-3 in rain-interrupted play at the southern Chinese city's Victoria Park, while Schiavone also triumphed in straight sets.
The 2010 Roland Garros winner needed just over an hour to dispatch seventh-seed Jana Cepelova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-2. Karolina Pliskova, seeded third, will take on world number 91 Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium in the $250,000 tournament's other semi-final. The Czech saw off China's Zheng Jie easily 6-1, 6-3, while Van Uytvanck had a similarly straight-forward time of it against Australia's Jarmila Gajdosova, winning 6-4, 6-2.
"I stand a good chance to be in the final, and maybe winning. But there are still some very good players left and I will have to play well if I'm to win in Hong Kong," said Pliskova, ranked 36 in the world. Van Uytvanck will be no walkover as she caused one of the upsets of the competition when she defeated the second seed, Daniela Hantuchova, in round two.