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   No.1 seed Simona Halep eased into the semifinals of the Shenzhen Open with a straight set win over qualifier Aleksandra Krunic on Thursday.
 No.1 seed Simona Halep eased into the last four of the Shenzhen Open with a straight set win over qualifier Aleksandra Krunic on Thursday.

   At last year's US Open, Krunic announced herself to the tennis world with a headline-grabbing run to the fourth round. However, in Shenzhen, World No.3 Halep administered a timely reminder of just what it will take to make it all the way to the top in the ultra-competitive world of women's tennis.

   In her first match of the week - and season - Halep displayed a few signs of rustiness, but since then it has been plain sailing. Against Krunic she needed barely an hour to wrap up a 6-3, 6-3 triumph and set up a meeting with the final Chinese player left in the draw, Zheng Saisai.

"The match was good - I played better than the last few rounds - and I'm looking forward to playing the semifinals," Halep said. "My game is getting better day by day. I want to improve match by match and see how far I can go here."

Earlier on, Zheng had caused the day's only upset, fighting back to oust No.4 seed Zarina Diyas, 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-2. Zheng came within a couple of points of defeat in the second set, but showed great character to pinch the subsequent tie-break before reeling off the final five games to complete the turnaround. 

Elsewhere, Vera Zvonareva's WTA comeback was cut short by a back injury, which forced her to retire when trailing 3-2 against No.8 seed Timea Bacsinszky.

"I played two great matches, unfortunately, though, maybe my body wasn't quite ready after not competing for so long," Zvonareva said. "I got injured yesterday and it was just too painful out on court today. I'll have a few days of treatment but hopefully I'll be ready for Melbourne."

The last semifinal spot went to No.2 seed Petra Kvitova, who edged past fellow Czech Tereza Smitkova.

Appearing in her first WTA quarterfinal, Smitkova looked far from overawed against the two-time Wimbledon champion, even holding a couple of points to take the opening set. However, Kvitova dug herself out of this hole with a run of four straight games, eventually running out a 7-5, 6-4 winner.

WTA / 08.01.2015