Surprise defeat for Wozniacki

World number one Caroline Wozniacki went out in the quarter-finals of the Sydney International today as she was beaten by Agnieszka Radwanska.

The Dane, who will be looking to end her wait for a grand slam victory at the Australian Open later this month, took the first set, but her seventh-seeded opponent battled back to claim a 3-6 7-5 6-2 win in two hours 38 minutes.

Wozniacki’s serving was a particular cause for concern as she was broken eight times, winning fewer than 50% of points on both her first and second serves.

Poland’s Radwanska will next face third seed Victoria Azarenka, who was pushed hard by Marion Bartoli before claiming a 7-5 6-4 win.

It was a real slog for the Belorussian, who needed four breaks in the first set and three in the second to get the job done in nearly two and a half hours.

The other semi-final will be between second seed Petra Kvitova and fourth seed Li Na.

Kvitova was in irresistible form as she breezed past Daniela Hantuchova 6-0 6-4 in a little over an hour, while Li beat Lucie Safarova 6-2 7-6 (7/3).

Second seed John Isner was the big casualty in the men’s draw, beaten in three sets by fellow American Bobby Reynolds in their last-16 match.

Isner seemed to be on course for a simple victory against his 126th-ranked opponent when he took the first set, but took his foot off the gas to slip to a 3-6 6-4 6-3 defeat.

First and third seeds Juan Martin Del Potro and Richard Gasquet were straight-sets winners over Lukasz Kubot and Fabio Fognini respectively, but the fourth, fifth and eighth seeds all slipped up.

Feliciano Lopez lost 6-3 6-4 to Julien Benneteau, Viktor Troicki was beaten 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 by Alex Bogomolov Jr and Radek Stepanek came up short in a three-setter against Jarkko Nieminen, 7-6 (7/5) 5-7 6-1.

Also advancing to the quarter-finals were Denis Istomin and Marcos Baghdatis.