Wozniacki overpowered Peer after a hard-fought opening set

Top seeds Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva will go head to head for the China Open title in Beijing after straight sets wins in the semi-finals.

Wozniacki, the new world number one, saw off Israel's Shahar Peer 7-5 6-2 and Zvonareva ended Li Na's hopes of a home success with a 6-3 6-3 victory.

Top seed Novak Djokovic defeated John Isner of the United States 7-6 (7-1) 6-2 in the first men's semi-final.

He next faces David Ferrer, who overcame Ivan Ljubicic 6-4 4-6 6-4.

Djokovic's victory also made certain of his place in the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London, which start on 21 November.

"I had a lot of opportunities throughout the match and took them when I needed to," said the 23-year-old Serb, whose variety of strokes proved too much for Isner after the American had achieved an early break of serve in the opening set.

Djokovic eventually took it with a cross-court forehand winner after a one-sided tie-break and breezed through the second set as Isner was repeatedly left flat-footed by the power of his opponent.

Djokovic celebrates after wrapping up victory over Isner

"I knew the key to the match was to return well and get him into longer rallies. "I didn't allow him to get into the middle of the court and near to the net to take control.

"I feel fresh and confident and just [want to] keep on going," he added.

Eighth seed Ferrer proved the steadier player in the second match as Ljbubic failed to repeat his surprise quarter-final win over top seed Andy Murray.

The Croatian was guilty of 30 unforced errors during the match, which Ferrer closed out after breaking serve at 4-4 in the deciding set.

In the women's semi-finals, Wozniacki overcame a poor start to both sets and limited mobility caused by a knee problem to overpower Peer and give herself the chance to avenge her US Open semi-final defeat by Zvonareva.

"It [the knee] felt better than it did yesterday. I've had a lot of treatment on it. I still felt it a little bit, but it's not getting worse, so that's a positive thing," the Dane said afterwards.

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Zvonareva, meanwhile, broke ninth seed Li's serve six times in a comfortable win and afterwards predicted a tight battle for the title.

"It's always tough to play against Caroline, but it's a great challenge and I like challenges," the Russian said.

"The US Open was two months ago - it's in the past. Tomorrow is going to be a new day."

On her semi-final win, she added: "Li Na is a great player and she was playing at home. I was trying to do my best on the court and not pay attention to anything else.

"She was taking a lot of risks and she had some unforced errors, so I knew I had to just hang in there and try to counter-punch, get every single ball and fight."

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