Sara Errani of Italy advanced to the semifinals with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over Madison Brengle of the US at the Dubai Tennis Championships Thursday. Brengle, leading 4-1 in the third set, called her coach, former French player Julie Coin, to the court during the changeover. Brengle fell apart from that point on, losing the next five games and the match. "It was a really strange match," Errani said. "I could've lost easily." Errani will play Elina Svitolina of Ukraine who beat CoCo Vandeweghe of the US 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. Earlier, Caroline Garcia of France reached the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Andrea Petkovic of Germany. Garcia will play the winner of the quarterfinal between Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Barbora Strycova of Czech Republic. Garcia broke Petkovic twice – first in the third game and then in the ninth – to wrap up the opening set in 37 minutes, without facing a break point on her own serve. The second set saw an early exchange of serves, before the world No. 38 wrapped up the match with a break after an hour and 31 minutes when Petkoic dragged a backhand wide. Petkovic looked a bit subdued and frequently clutched at her ankle, suggesting she was in some discomfort. Garcia made full use of that, hitting 23 winners to the German's six. Top-seeded defending champion Simona Halep, Spanish pair Garbine Muguruza and Suarez Navarro, and Czech Petra Kvitova were all eliminated in the second round after receiving byes for the first round, in which the tournament's other four seeds had already been knocked out. Former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic did the damage to Halep with a 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 victory. On Wednesday, Strycova defeated German Julia Goerges 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 and Svitolina, whose new coaching advisor Justine Henin was in the stands, beat a tearful Muguruza, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Brengle shocked Kvitova 0-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 in a contest which ended early Thursday morning. Thiem in quarters In Rio de Daneiro, rising Austrian star Dominic Thiem reached the quarterfinals of the Rio Open Wednesday with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Argentina's Diego Schwartzman. The fifth-seeded Thiem, the youngest player in the ATP's top 20 at age 22, was about the only bright spot on a rain-soaked day that saw the match between No. 2 seed David Ferrer and fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas rained out. Much of the rest of the playing schedule was also washed out in the third straight day of rain in Rio de Janeiro. Third-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France got in his first-round match early, but was beaten 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 by Brazilian Thiago Monteiro. On the women's side of the combined ATP-WTA event, fifth-seeded Polona Hercog of Slovenia was beaten 7-5, 7-6 (3) by Sorana Cirstea of Romania in a second-round match. Becker downs Johnson In Florida, sixth-seeded Steve Johnson let a big lead slip away and lost to Benjamin Becker 5-7, 7-6 (1), 6-3 Wednesday in the second round of the Delray Beach Open, then withdrew from the doubles competition because of an injured right shoulder. Becker will next meet another American, 31-year-old Rajeev Ram, who had late serving problems before topping Illya Marchenko of the Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. Eighth-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino also advanced to the quarterfinals, beating qualifier Tatsuma Ito of Japan 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (4), 6-3. Fourth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov came back from a set and 3-1 deficits in the second and third sets to beat 23-year-old Damir Dzumhur 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Dimitrov, the highest seed left in the draw, meets Mannarino in the quarterfinals.
