Toronto, ON – This week's highest-remaining seed, Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, was an easy quarterfinal winner Friday at the $2.05 million Rogers Cup, a U.S. Open Series event.
The fourth-seeded Wimbledon semifinalist Azarenka blew past Kazakhstani qualifier Galina Voskoboeva 6-1, 6-2 in 69 minutes on the hardcourts at Rexall Centre.
Serena Williams overcame a first-set loss to Czech Lucie Safarova to move on with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory. Williams, who titled in Stanford last month to capture her first title of 2011, improved to 13-2 since returning to WTA action in June.
The 13-time Grand Slam champion Williams captured this Canadian event 10 years ago here in Toronto, as the event shifts between Toronto and Montreal each year.
Azarenka will meet Williams in Saturday's semifinals.
Meanwhile, 10th-seeded Aussie Samantha Stosur reached the final four by handling Italian Roberta Vinci, a three-time WTA titlist this season, 6-4, 6-1 in 63 minutes on Day 5, while Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska stayed hot with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over 11th-seeded German Andrea Petkovic. The 13th-seeded Radwanska has now won her last nine matches, including a semifinal victory over Petkovic in Carlsbad last week when the Pole was a surprise titlist in California.
Stosur and Radwanska will do battle on Saturday.
The 2011 Rogers Cup champion will earn $360,000.
