Petra Kvitova, Dominika Cibulkova advance to Wuhan Open final

Petra Kvitova rolled into the final of the Wuhan Open in China with a convincing 6-1, 6-2 victory over Simona Halep on Friday.

The Czech Republic native needed only 67 minutes to dispatch Halep, the fourth-seeded player from Romania.

Kvitova will face 10th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in the title match. Cibulkova was a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner over Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Kvitova, who upset top-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany earlier in the week, has reached a final for the first time this year.

"It's amazing," Kvitova said. "I came to this tournament and really didn't expect this kind of performance. Physically I'm still so-so. I'm really happy that I'm not falling apart. But I played a really great match today in spite of everything, which really put the pressure on her."

Cibulkova is seeking her third title of the year. She lost the first set against the ninth-seeded Kuznetsova before needing to grind out wins in the final two sets to advance.

"I would say that nothing has been easy here," Cibulkova said. "I've had really tough matches from the first round so you don't expect anything easy from this tournament. I'm really looking forward to another final and I want to keep going, keep playing like this."

Tashkent Open

Defending champion Nao Hibino of Japan returned to the final at the Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan by posting a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic on Friday.

The fourth-seeded Hibino recorded four service breaks while defeating the ninth-seeded Allertova.

Hibino will face Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the final. Pliskova defeated Ukraine's Kateryna Kozlova 7-6 (2), 6-0 in the other semifinal.

Pliskova is the twin sister of U.S. Open finalist Karolina Pliskova.