KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — Romania’s Alexandra Dulgheru set herself up for the 2015 BMW Malaysia Open tennis crown after advancing to the semis today.

Dulgheru, currently ranked 94 in the world, defeated eighth-seeded and world no 65 Julia Goerges 7-6(5) and 7-5 in two hours and 17 minutes in the quarter-finals at the Royal Selangor Golf Club (RSGC), here.

“Honestly, I didn’t believe today was going to be a straight sets match. Goerges had a better start and it looked like she would get the better of me, but somehow I managed to pulled through by keeping calm and focusing on playing my game. I fought hard for each and every point.

“It was very hot today...Playing in the hot afternoon was really challenging. I would like to play later in the day when it is cooler but as a profesional, we come on court and play our best tennis to win,” Dulgheru said.

Dulgheru will meet fourth-seeded Jarmila Gajdosova in the semi-final after the Australian beat Japan’s Karumi Nara 6-4, 3-6 and 6-4 in the last eight.

Before this, Dulgheru had edged second-seeded Sabine Lisicki of Germany in the first round and China’s Duan Ying-Ying in second round.

In other quarter-final matches, top seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark defeated Carina Witthoeft of Germany 6-3, 6-1 while 2012 BMW Malaysian Open champion, Hsieh Su-Wei upset Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia 7-6(4), 4-6 and 6-0 to enter the semis.

In the doubles event, China’s Liang Chen and Yafan Wang defeated Chang kai-Chen of Taiwan and her partner, Zheng Saisai of China in straight sets 7-6(2) and 6-1 in the semi-finals.

“The first set was not good for both Liang and I as Zheng and Chan matched us in almost every aspect but we were lucky to take the first set. In the second set we managed to play our game and take control to win the match and book our place in the final,” Wang said.

In final on Sunday, Liang and Wang will face the winner of the other semi-final match between Croatian Darija Jurak and Klara Koukalova of Czech Republic and Ukrainians Yuliya Beygelzimer and Olga Savchuk.

“We will be undergoing special training to prepare for the final and we will be focusing on building up our strengths and exploiting our opponents weakness,” Liang said.

Following are today’s results of 2015 BMW M’sian Open:

Women’s Singles quarterfinals:
Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) bt Julia Goerges (GER) 7-6(5) 7-5
Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS) bt Kurumi Nara (JPN) 6-4 3-6 6-4
Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) bt Carina Witthoeft (GER) 6-3 6-1
Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) bt Elizaveta Kulichkova (RUS) 7-6(4) 4-6 6-0

Women’s Doubles semi-finals:
Liang Chen (CHN)/Yafan Wang (CHN) bt Chang Kai-Chen (TPE)/Zheng Saisai (CHN) 7-6(2) 6-1 — AFP