STUTTGART: World No 1 Caroline Wozniacki avenged her shock Miami defeat to Andrea Petkovic by battling back to beat the German crowd favourite 6-4, 6-1 and reach the Stuttgart's Porsche Grand Prix semifinals this morning.

Despite finding herself 4-1 down after just 21 minutes of the first set, the 20-year-old Danish top seed roared back to break Petkovic, ranked 19th in the world, three times to take the opener.

Petkovic then ran out of steam and the 23-year-old had few answers as Wozniacki blazed into a 5-0 lead in the second set.

"It was tough for me to come back in the first set," admitted Wozniacki, who has won her last seven matches after also winning the Charleston tournament.

"I am sorry I beat the home favourite, but I hope the crowd will support me now.

"I feel very good at the moment, my volleys were working really well, which they haven't always done, and I played some good shots."

Wozniacki will now play Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska in Sunday's semifinal after the 22-year-old needed two hours to beat German wildcard Kristina Barrois 7-5, 6-3.

Earlier, Australia's Samantha Stosur recovered from losing the first set to knock out second-seed Vera Zvonareva. The 27-year-old fifth-seed battled back for a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory over the Russian, who is ranked third in the world, in just over two-and-a-half hours.

Having made an early exit from January's Australian Open, Stosur, ranked seventh in the world, is hoping to use Stuttgart to recapture the form which helped her reach the French Open final last year.

In her semifinal, Stosur will play Germany's Julia Goerges, ranked 32nd in the world, who beat the Australian's doubles partner Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 6-4.

"I am glad that I served well. I knew that Sabine is back on the road and has been playing well, so it was good to get a win," said Goerges.

The German is still in the hunt to claim the winners prize of a brand-new sports car worth US$111,000 (RM334,000).

RESULTS
This morning
Quarterfinals
Samantha Stosur (AUS) bt Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3); Julia Goerges (GER) bt Sabine Lisicki (GER) 6-4, 6-4; Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) bt Andrea Petkovic (GER) 6-4, 6-1; Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) bt Kristina Barrois (GER) 7-5, 6-3

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HILTON HEAD: Garrett Willis' devotion to his old putter paid off this morning as he reeled of six birdies in a row en route to a seven-under 64 and the first-round lead in The Heritage.

The American, who has struggled with his putting this season, had planned to put a new putter in his bag, but at the last minute he told his caddie to get "Old Faithful" from the car.

"Old Faithful" and Willis certainly got the job done, with a string of six straight birdies from the second hole at Harbour Town.

He had three more birdies and two bogeys to take the lead in a round that was suspended by darkness after an earlier rain delay. Luke Donald, ranked No 3 in the world, led a group on 67. A victory here could move the Englishman to the top of the world rankings.

Donald, winner of the World Golf Championships Match Play Championship in February, is the highest ranked player in the field.

LEADERBOARD
64 - Garrett Willis; 65 - Chad Campbell, Tim Herron, Arjun Atwal (IND), Matt Bettencourt; 66 - Brian Gay, Camilo Villegas (COL); 67 - Jason Dufner, Scott Verplank, Luke Donald (GBR), Blake Adams, Brendon de Jonge (ZIM), Chris Riley; 68 - Josh Teater, Brian Davis (GBR), Bo Van Pelt, Robert Garrigus, Graeme McDowell (NIR), Steve Elkington (AUS), Spencer Levin, Chris Couch, Jim Furyk, Matt Kuchar, Jerry Kelly; 69 - Nathan Green (AUS), Ian Poulter (GBR), Alex Cejka (GER), Fredrik Jacobson (SWE), Trevor Immelman (RSA), Jason Day (AUS); 70 - John Daly, Nick O'Hern (AUS), Aaron Baddeley (AUS), Ryuji Imada (JPN); 71 - Carl Pettersson (SWE), Michael Sim (AUS); 72 - Jesper Parnevik (SWE), Richard S. Johnson (SWE), Marc Leishman (AUS), Francesco Molinari (ITA), David Hearn (CAN), Charlie Wi (KOR), Stephen Ames (CAN); 73 - Stuart Appleby (AUS); 74 - Fabian Gomez (ARG), Greg Chalmers (AUS); 75 - Ernie Els (RSA), Jarrod Lyle (AUS); 76 - Peter Hanson (SWE); 78 - Mike Weir (CAN); 79 - Henrik Stenson (SWE)

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