Flawless Radwanska into China Open semis

Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland blazed past Angelique Kerber to reach the China Open semifinals on Friday.

It's one of the closest rivalries in women's tennis - going into their quarterfinal clash in the Chinese capital they were a dead even 5-5 head-to-head, and Kerber had actually won their last two.

In their 11th career meeting, it was Radwanska who called the shots. The Pole raced through the opening set in just 26 minutes, 6-1, and after falling behind 3-0 in the second set she reeled off six of the next seven games to move smoothly through in straight sets over the 10th-seeded German, 6-1, 6-4. Radwanska made four unforced errors, and hit 11 winners.

Radwanska is now two wins away from qualifying for the WTA Finals. Talking about the past season, she was happy that she could come back on the right track.

"It's definitely been an up and down season, especially at the beginning of the year. I wasn't getting the results I wanted - that was a little bit frustrating," Radwanska said. "And the clay court season is never great for me either, so I wasn't really surprised it went that way on clay."

"But I did much, much better in the grass court season. I had a couple of good results there. I think that helped me to be where I am right now - I have more confidence, and I have a better ranking.

"I still have a chance to go to Singapore, too - I'm still fighting for that." Endi