Caroline Wozniacki overcame a persistent fever, a seed-beater, difficulties with her first serve, and a late-night finish to reach the semi-finals of the Dubai Open for the fifth successive time on Thursday.
The former world No.1 from Denmark's 7-5 6-0 win over the world No.14 from Italy, Flavia Pennetta, confirmed the feeling that she is gradually edging her way back towards the summit, even though her standard was not always all she wanted.
Wozniacki twice conceded early breaks of serve before repairing the damage, and was unable to force her advantage home when she was twice within two points of taking the first set.
She nevertheless struck her ground strokes consistently, if not always as forcibly as she has recently.
Once she had a set in the bag Wozniacki accelerated her progress encouragingly against an opponent who had dismissed the seventh-seeded Angelique Kerber the previous day.
"Obviously with the way I have been feeling this week, I'm just trying to save as much energy as I can for all the matches I have to play," Wozniacki said.
"I'm definitely very pleased with the way I have played and the way I fought."
Wozniacki next plays the top seed, Simona Halep, who had a much closer call to reach the semis.
The lively and creative Romanian was within one point of going a break down in the seventh game of the final set before surviving 6-3 1-6 7-5 against Ekaterina Makarova, a deceptive left-hander from Russia.
The other semi-final will be between two of the newest and most interesting young climbers in the world's top 30, Karolina Pliskova and Garbine Muguruza.
Pliskova, a 22-year-old from Prague, upset the seedings for the second successive day and reached the semi-finals for the second consecutive week.
She also turned her match dramatically on its head from a set and 1-3 down in a 3-6 7-6(7-5) 6-1 win over Lucie Safarova, her 11th seeded compatriot.
Muguruza, a 21-year-old from Barcelona, delivered a 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-3 win over her doubles partner Carla Suarez Navarro, the 13th seed who had eliminated the Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova.
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