Seeded players roll in Guangzhou quarters

GUANGZHOU, China, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Third-seeded Peng Shuai was among four seeded players who posted straight-set wins Friday in the quarterfinals of the $200,000 Guangzhou Women's Open in China.

Peng, the highest-seeded player left in the hard-court tournament, breezed by Alexandra Panova 6-2, 6-3. Peng broke serve in half of Panova's service games and only faced one break-point situation, which she saved.

She goes into the tournament semifinals against fifth-seeded Shahar Peer, who was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Yung-Jan Chan in her quarterfinal match behind five service breaks. Peer and Peng split their two previous matchups, which were both in 2006.

The other semifinal Saturday has seventh-seeded Ayumi Morita playing No. 8-seeded Alberta Brianti. They have never before met in a WTA tournament.

Morita took out Olga Savchuk 6-3, 6-4 and Brianti stopped Anastasija Sevastova 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.