Radwanska, Goerges through to Dubai final

Agnieszka Radwanska and Jelena Jankovic opened the semifinal schedule of the day in Dubai. Tied at 1-1 in sets, 6-2 2-6 more precisely, the second set won by eighth-seeded Jankovic, Radwanska refocused on her play and made a crucial break in the second game of the deciding set. The fifth-seeded Pole held all the three service games in the 28-minute last set without losing a point and won 6-2 2-6 6-0.

Julia Goerges will be Radwanska's opponent in the final, after her well-earned 7-6(3) 7-5 victory over defending champion and third seed Caroline Wozniacki, her third straight win over the Dane. The unseeded Goerges, debutante in Dubai, survived Wozniacki's long rallies, as the Dane's unforced errors piled up. Goerges won the first set in a tiebreak, even though she could have closed it out earlier, with a set point at 5-3. In the second set she came back from 4-2 down.

Radwanska and Goerges will play for the Premier Dubai title, the $446,778 that it brings, but also for their WTA rankings breakthroughs. The title would take Radwanska to her Top 5 debut, while Goerges would crack Top 15 for the first time.

It was Radwanska who comfortably won the one and only previous meeting with Goerges, 6-1 6-1 this year in the fourth round of the Australian Open. Also, let's mention the interesting fact that Radwanska's 2012 win-loss record is 14-3 and all the three losses came at the hands of current world No.1 Victoria Azarenka, whom Radwanska criticized for gamesmanship. (via WTA Tour, photos: Johan Rivera, follow him on Twitter @HobbiesPlus, © Neal Trousdale)

Cibulkova and boyfriend Miso Navara express their love on tennis courts

Wearing a red mini dress and black high heels, Dominika Cibulkova posed with her boyfriend Miso Navara on a tennis court for Cas.sk. The leitmotif of the Valentine's Day photo shoot was a cardboard heart. Sweet, romantic?

The 22-year-old Cibulkova talked about the beauty of her relationship with Miso, and named five reasons why she couldn’t live without the man who calls her the number one woman in his life.

Above is the most recent picture of the couple, which is currently Dominika's Facebook profile photo. Miso's profile photo is also with Dominika. Check it out below.

Radwanska accuses Azarenka of gamesmanship

In an interview after her Dubai quarterfinal win, Agnieszka Radwanska made it public that she "lost a lot of respect" for world No.1 Victoria Azarenka, because the Belarusian allegedly exaggerated her ankle injury pain during her semifinal victory in Doha. Radwanska spoke her mind when asked about the cold handshake in her Doha loss to Azarenka, in which Azarenka sprained her ankle in the second set and eventually won, despite limping and looking on the verge of retirement.

I think after this match (in Doha) [I] just lost a lot of respect. If you do this in the match, if anyone didn’t see the match, I think it’s just a quick look on YouTube and you’ll know what was going on. I was angry because I don’t think this is the great image for the women’s tennis, what was going on there.

Here's the YouTube video. The handshake is in the last minute of the clip.

(via Beyond the Baseline)

Wozniacki outplays Ivanovic to advance to Dubai semifinals

In the night session Dubai quarterfinal, Caroline Wozniacki won the battle of former world No.1s, dismissing Ana Ivanovic 6-3 7-5.

Ivanovic started the match shaky, and after surviving her first service game, double faults and insecurity did their part for the Serb to trail 1-3. When Ivanovic broke Wozniacki in the fifth game, it looked as if she was back in the match, but the luck didn't last long. Wozniacki broke back to lead 4-2 and in seventh game came back from 0-40 down to hold serve for 5-2 and win the set before you knew it. The thrilling second set featured seven breaks of serve and Ivanovic twice retrieved deficits until 5-5 when defending champion Wozniacki broke again and then served out victory on her second match point, a 24-shot running rally.

The first semifinal pair is Jelena Jankovic vs. Agnieszka Radwanska. Wozniacki's semifinal opponent will be Dubai debutante Julia Goerges, winner of a thrilling three-setter against Daniela Hantuchova, 4-6 6-3 6-4. (photo: Johan Rivera, follow him on Twitter @HobbiesPlus)

Jankovic moves to Dubai semifinals by downing Stosur

In the first quarterfinal of the day at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Jelena Jankovic was stable throughout her encounter with Samantha Stosur, and showed the reigning US Open champion the way out of the tournament with a 6-4 6-2 win. Last year Jankovic was also fatal for seed No.4 Stosur in Dubai quarters, before losing to Caroline Wozniacki in the semis.

In the first set the eighth-seeded Jankovic was in absolute control, and after an exchange of breaks in the second, from 2-2, Jankovic won four straight games. Jankovic primarily praises her return as a crucial factor in taming Stosur's serve.

Fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska will be Jankovic's next opponent. The Pole defeated ninth seed Sabine Lisicki 6-2 6-1 in the quarterfinals. (photo: Johan Rivera, follow him on Twitter @HobbiesPlus)


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