Beijing: Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki was knocked out of the China Open quarter-finals on Friday after losing to Flavia Pennetta of Italy 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (2).
The world number one's game collapsed in the second set and she was repeatedly left stranded by Pennetta's repertoire of lobs, volleys and powerful baseline returns.
Defending champion Wozniacki was two points from victory when leading 30-0 in the final game of the third set, but Pennetta won the game and then the tie-breaker.
Facing match point, Wozniacki staged a dramatic comeback to force a tie-break in the third set, but Pennetta superbly lobbed the flat-footed Dane to seal the match.
"I knew that it was going to be tough. I did my best today but it just wasn't good enough," the Dane said, who had been the only top-10 women's player left in the event. "I had my chances and didn't take them."
"Of course it's disappointing right now. I had 6-5, 30-love (in the third set) and I should have closed the match off. But...Flavia played some good points at that time, and I just made a few wrong decisions and the match changed," added the 21-year-old.
Pennetta will next face 11th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who advanced after Ana Ivanovic of Serbia retired with back pain while trailing 6-3, 3-2.
Ivanovic said she'd been struggling with the pain since last month's tournament in Tokyo.
"It hasn't really been getting much better," said Ivanovic, adding that doctors were examining the results of her latest MRI. "It's too early to say anything."
Also, Monica Niculescu of Romania rallied to beat Maria Kirilenko of Russia 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and clinch a semi-final berth, while Andrea Petkovic of Germany defeated 13th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-3, 7-6 (2).
In the men's tournament, third-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic reached the semi-finals by beating Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-1, 6-0.
Berdych broke Verdasco six times and was broken only once to improve his hard-court record against the Spaniard to 6-1.
"I felt really good on the court and played really well," Berdych said. "Hard court is much more suitable for my game style. I can play more aggressive, I can give him much more pressure, less pace on the court, and then he starts to do more mistakes, more unforced errors."
Men's top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga powered past Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-4 to set up a semi-final clash with Berdych.
"It was just amazing," the Frenchman said. "Everything was working."
Berdych, like Tsonga, is still in the running for one of the four remaining spots at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Frenchman Tsonga predicted a battle of wills in Saturday's showdown against world number 10 Berdych.
"I'm really happy. Tomorrow will be exciting for sure as we both have a lot to win to be safe for the Masters Final (in London)," said the world number seven. "Both of us will play our best tennis to win the match."
Also, Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia defeated Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-2, while Croatian Marin Cilic beat South African Kevin Anderson 7-6, 4-6, 6-1.
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