THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark advanced to the quarter-finals of The MPS Group Championships with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Virginie Razzano of France on Thursday.
The world's 12th-ranked player took advantage of Razzano's late errors for two late breaks at Sawgrass Country Club.
In the first set, the Dane held serve to lead 4-3. Razzano took a 40-0 lead in the eighth game, but Wozniacki won five straight points to break and then held serve to close out the set.
Wozniacki broke again at 5-5 in the second set, falling behind 40-30 before Razzano made a series of mistakes.
An attempted drop shot from the baseline fell short and into the net, a double-fault at deuce and a pair of shots that went long sealed Razzano's fate.
Wozniacki won the last game in five points when the 41st-ranked Frenchwoman hit a return long.
"I fought back and played some good points," Wozniacki said. "And, I got a little lucky."
Wozniacki said a new conditioning regimen is paying dividends.
"I could see she was getting a little tired," Wozniacki said. "I felt good all the way."
Wozniacki will play Daniela Hantuchova on Friday. Hantuchova beat eighth-seeded American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 7-5.
"I was really focused the first set and worked well," Hantuchova said. "Then she went for some flashy shots and made them. But, I'm really happy with the way I'm playing on clay."
In other matches Thursday, fifth-seeded Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada fought off Sabine Lisicki of Germany to win 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 and Tamira Paszek of Austria earned a spot in the quarter-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Varvara Lepchenko of the U.S.
Wozniacki also made it to the semifinals of the doubles with partner Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic. They won in a walkover when a strained right forearm prevented Kateryna Bondarenko from teaming with her sister Alona.
The top-seeded doubles team of American Lisa Raymond and Kveta Peschke will meet Wozniacki and Strycova in the semifinals. Raymond and Peschke beat American Carly Gullickson and Taiwan's Chin-Wei Chan 6-0, 7-5.
The second-seeds, China's Shuai Peng and Zi Yan lost to American Angela Haynes and Liga Dekmeijere 7-6 (3), 6-4.
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