BIRMINGHAM, England -- Petra Kvitova, who hopes a successful title defense at the Birmingham Classic will help her bid to win Wimbledon for a third time, moved into the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Germany's Julia Goerges on Friday.
The fourth-seeded Kvitova took an hour and six minutes to dispatch an opponent who reached the top 10 for the first time last month, and is one of three players to have hit 400 aces in a season.
"I was very pleased with everything," Kvitova said. "I knew how well she can play, even when she is down."
Kvitova, who won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014, next plays unseeded Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu, who defeated Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-2.
Buzarnescu, who also beat Svitolina in the French Open three weeks ago, has won more matches (82) than any other player since she recovered from her latest knee operation a year ago.
Barbora Strycova, the feisty grass-court expert who ousted Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza on Thursday, was leading 7-5 3-0 when Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko retired with a painful left hip.
The unseeded Strycova next plays Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova, who was the Birmingham champion nine years ago and a Wimbledon semifinalist last year.
Rybarikova, who is also unseeded, swept past Slovenia's Dalila Jakupovic 6-2, 6-4.