TOKYO — Defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska pulverized Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-1 to set up a final with Nadia Petrova at the Pan Pacific Open Friday. Russian Petrova upset eighth seed Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-2 in a surprisingly one-sided match to advance to her first final at the WTA premier five event in Tokyo. Arms, neck and shoulders criss-crossed with taping, third seed Radwanska was in awesome form, the big-hitting Pole completing an easy win in just 59 minutes. German Kerber failed to hold serve in the first set, and was left to watch as several Radwanska bombs flew past her racquet as her serves fell short and were smashed back with interest. Radwanska wrapped up victory by forcing the fifth seed into a wild backhand that landed in the tramlines on her fourth match point. Petrova, the 17th seed, chasing her second title of the season, came into the match with a 5-3 record over Stosur, last year's US Open champion. Stosur committed a string of unforced errors and Petrova closed out the match following another errant forehand from the Australian after one hour, 47 minutes. Ferrer-Benneteau semis In Malaysia, top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain endured an early scare Friday before advancing into the Malaysian Open semifinals, setting up a clash with Julien Benneteau of France. The world No. 5 defeated Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at Kuala Lumpur's Putra Stadium. Benneteau earlier beat Colombia's Alejandro Falla 6-2, 6-2. Second-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina beat Vasek Pospisil of Canada 6-3, 6-4 to set up a semifinal against Kei Nishikori of Japan. Nishikori, Asia's top-ranked player, advanced when 2009 champion Nikolay Davydenko retired after losing the first set of their quarterfinal 6-4. Davydenko also pulled out of the quarterfinals here last year with an injury. “It's sad to see him retire but hopefully he is fine,” Nishikori said. Tipsarevic, Gasquet advance In Bangkok, top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia out-rallied Fernando Verdasco of Spain from the baseline to win 7-6 (5), 6-4 and move into the Thailand Open semifinals Friday. Tipsarevic set up a match with 2009 champion Gilles Simon, who won the all-French quarterfinal with Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-1. “It was really tough but I expected it. I have played Fernando 5-6 times,” said Tipsarevic, who improved to 4-2 against the Spaniard. “It's always been battles from the baseline. He made me suffer, and I ran a lot today.” Another Frenchman, second-seeded Richard Gasquet, made it to his third semis this year in handling eighth-seeded Bernard Tomic of Australia 7-6 (5), 6-4. Beating Grigor Dimitrov from 7-5, 5-2 down the day before gave Gasquet confidence against Tomic. Serena withdraws China Open organizers have said top-ranked Serena Wiliams has withdrawn from the tournament with illness. The tournament's official Chinese-language microblog posted a message late Thursday saying: “This is regrettable news and we hope Serena Williams will get well soon.” Her place in the tournament, which starts Saturday in Beijing, will be Switzerland's Romina Oprandi. Williams' own Twitter account carried a short message saying: “Flu no fun,” but made no mention of the China Open. Serena also missed last year's tournament with an injury. — Agencies
