Wozniacki breezes into semi-finals

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki defied swirling winds gusting over 30mph to book her place in the semi-finals of the US Open.

Wozniacki beat the unseeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-2 7-5 at Flushing Meadows and will now face Russia's Vera Zvonareva for a place in Saturday's final.

"This felt like playing in a hurricane," admitted Wozniacki, who lost in the final in New York 12 months ago to Belgium's Kim Clijsters. "But it was the same for both players and I'm so happy to get through.

"When we were practising I thought 'Oh, it's not that windy today' but when we came out here I knew it was about just surviving, getting as many balls back in the court as possible and just run."

Wozniacki had dropped just ten games in her previous four matches - seven of those coming against former champion Maria Sharapova in the last round - and looked on course for another comfortable win after taking the opening set with three breaks of serve.

However, Cibulkova had knocked out another former champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova, in the fourth round and recovered from an early break of serve to make life difficult for Wozniacki in the second set.

But the diminutive world number 45 was unable to get the better of Wozniacki's famed defence when it mattered most and it was the 20-year-old Dane who forged the decisive break in the 11th game before holding her nerve to serve out for the match.