Wozniacki to reclaim No. 1 ranking after Dubai win

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Caroline Wozniacki has regained the No. 1 ranking from Kim Clijsters after beating Shahar Peer of Israel to reach the semifinals of the Dubai Championships on Friday.

The 20-year-old Dane only lost her top ranking Monday, but will reclaim it when the new rankings are released next week after seeing off Peer 6-2, 6-4.

Wozniacki wrote on her Twitter page: "Won my match against Shahar Peer 6-2 6-4, playing the semis tomorrow and got my number 1 ranking back :))"

That prompted a reply from Clijsters: "Congrats :-) ha ha."

Wozniacki first rose to the top in October, replacing the injured Serena Williams, but she has yet to reach a Grand Slam final. She lost to Li Na of China in the Australian Open semifinals in January.

However, she was among the most consistent players in 2010. She won the most tournaments and appears in good form in Dubai, easily beating an ailing Anna Chakvetadze and then dropping only one game in her third round match against Japanese qualifier Ayumi Morita.

Her win Friday ended another strong run from Peer, who two years ago was barred from playing in Dubai because of her nationality. She is still given extra security and isolated from the other players in a guarded compound.

Last year, Peer reached the semifinals - beating Wozniacki on the way. The No. 11-ranked Peer lost to Serena Williams in the semifinals.

This time, Wozniacki went up 3-0 in the first set and was never seriously challenged mostly due to the erratic play of the Israeli who had 34 unforced errors - more than twice that of the Dane. Wozniacki went up 4-0 in the second set, before Peer seemed to get her game going.

Peer reeled off two games to make it 4-2 and then closed the gap to 5-4 before Wozniacki completed the win with an overhead smash.