Wozniacki cruises, Petrova withdraws in Korea
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki was an easy second-round winner Thursday at the Korea Open, while Russian Nadia Petrova was forced to pull out of her match because of a back injury.
Wozniacki rolled to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over French qualifier Caroline Garcia, giving the Dane a quarterfinal matchup with seventh-seeded Klara Zakopalova. The Czech advanced Thursday with a 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) triumph over Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova.
Zakopalova is 10-3 lifetime at this event, including a runner-up finish in 2010. She has never beaten Wozniacki in two previous meetings, the last matchup coming in the final of the Copenhagen event in 2010.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Petrova, this week's fourth seed, was scheduled to face Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who now advances to the quarterfinals with the walkover and will face Ekaterina Makarova. The eighth-seeded Russian took out American qualifier Jamie Hampton, 6-3, 7-5.
Sixth-seeded American Varvara Lepchenko thumped Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-4, 6-1, to reach her fourth quarterfinal of 2012 and the fifth of her career. She has never won a quarterfinal match, however, and on Friday will take on Austrian Tamira Paszek, who won the final 11 games in her 6-2, 6-0 rout of Korean wild card Lee So-Ra.
Friday's remaining quarterfinal will feature third-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia and Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens, both second-round winners on Wednesday.