Samantha Crawford sails into her first WTA semis

Brisbane - Canadian Raonic moves into quarters in men's singles

 American qualifier Samantha Crawford continued her breakout run at the Brisbane International by storming into her first WTA semifinal after pummelling Andrea Petkovic on Thursday.
The 20-year-old Atlanta native, ranked 142nd in the world, blasted 22 winners against the befuddled German in a 6-3 6-0 rout to further enhance her reputation, although the former U.S. Open junior champion was surprised about her achievement.
"It happened fast. I was trying to not think about it too much, not psych myself out," Crawford said.
"Right after I won, on the on-court interview I was like shaking, and then in the locker room I was like sitting for just like a little bit. "But yeah, this is awesome."
Crawford is playing in just her sixth WTA Tour event and her strong showing at an event which has seen the top seeds succumb to injuries should bring her inside the top 100 for the first time.
The American, who spent time growing up in China and speaks fluent Mandarin, has yet to drop a set in Brisbane after dispatching another rising talent Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the second round. She faces either twice Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka or U.S. Open finalist Roberta Vinci for a place in the final.
Germany's Angelique Kerber also booked a semifinal spot in Brisbane as she beat Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenko 6-4 6-4.
Victoria Azarenka maintained her surge in form while the leading women on the tour are struggling with injuries or inconsistency at the start of the season, reaching the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-2 win over eighth-seeded Roberta Vinci.
Kerber said she wasn't surprised by the glut of withdrawals ahead of the year's first grand slam, the Australian Open. "We had two months off. It's not so easy to start the year and to come back," she said.
"The most important thing to think is to start easy, not playing the first matches 100 percent because I think you need time with the weather, jet lag, everything."
In the men's singles, Canadian Milos Raonic opened his 2016 season with a 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-4 win over Croatia's Ivan Dodig.
The fourth-seeded Raonic, who had a first-round bye, appeared agitated at times with Dodig's play and was seen on camera mouthing an obvious obscenity at his opponent when Dodig hit a half-volley drop shot at the net for a winner. Lucas Pouille of France beat sixth-seeded David Goffin of Belgium 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3 and will play Raonic in the quarterfinals. Grigor Dimitrov also advanced by beating Viktor Troicki of Serbia 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-2.
At the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, Austria's Tamira Paszek became the first player into the semifinals when she beat fellow qualifier Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3 in a match that lasted 2 hours, 51 minutes.
Paszek, an Auckland semifinalist in 2008 as a teenager, saved a break point in the final game before finally converting her eighth match point.
"I felt at 4-1 in the second (set) like someone pulled the plug and I had no more energy left," Paszek said. "It was kind of a weird feeling out there and she kept pushing me all around the court.