Radwanska beats Pliskova, takes final spot in WTA Finals semis

Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska overpowered Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-3 on Friday to clinch the last available place in the semi-finals of the WTA tour championship and stay on course to defend the title she won last year.

Radwanksa made it through to the last-four again after having lost her opening match when she beat Pliskova in a sudden-death showdown.

The 27-year-old will now face world number one Angelique Kerber in Saturday’s semis.

Kuznetsova suffered her first loss of the tournament on Friday when she was beaten 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 by Spain’s French Open champion Garbine Mugurza but the result had no bearing on the semis with the Russian already assured of finishing top of the White Group and Muguruza out of contention.

Sania-Hingis pair in last-four Indian ace Sania Mirza and Switzerland’s Martina Hingis entered the semi-finals after beating Taiwanese combination of Hao-Ching Chan and Yung Jan Chan 7-6 (12-10), 7-5.

Murray enters Vienna quarters In Vienna, Andy Murray defeated France’s Gilles Simon for the 16th time to reach the Vienna ATP quarterfinals and keep alive his bid to snatch Novak Djokovic’s world number one ranking.

The Olympic and Wimbledon champion eventually triumphed 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 after two hours and 40 minutes.

Unseeded Serb Viktor Troicki defeated third seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria 6-2, 7-5 a result which qualified Gael Monfils into the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals. Defending champion David Ferrer also made the quarterfinals by seeing off Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).

Wawrinka, del Potro in QFs In Basel, two-time champion Juan Martin del Potro and top-seeded Stan Wawrinka advanced to the Swiss Indoors quarterfinals on Thursday.

Del Potro beat fifth-seeded David Goffin of Belgium 7-5, 6-3, while Wawrinka had 16 aces as he beat American player Donald Young 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 6-4.

Earlier, fourth-seeded Marin Cilic had 10 aces in a 6-0, 7-6 (4) win over Pablo Carreno Busta and will face Marcel Granollers of Spain, who beat Jack Sock 6-3, 6-1.

Gilles Muller of Luxembourg earned a spot in the last-eight against Federico Delbonis of Argentina. Muller beat Florian Mayer of Germany 6-3, 6-2.