Ivanovic leads 4 seeds into semis

LINZ, Austria
Tennis Results, AP - 3 months ago

Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic beat Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-4, 6-4 Friday, joining three other seeded players in the Generali Ladies semifinals.

Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia defeated eighth-seeded Alize Cornet of France 7-5, 6-1; third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland stopped fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-3, 6-2; and sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli topped Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.

Pennetta, seeded seventh, was last week's runner-up in Zurich. Ivanovic broke her at 4-4 and added three more breaks in the second set.

"It was a difficult match," Ivanovic said. "I was never sure if I did enough to beat her."

In Zurich, the Serb reached her first semifinals since winning the French Open. Ivanovic, who has been troubled by thigh and thumb injuries, will play Radwanska on Saturday.

Radwanska stayed on course for a fourth title this season by routing Petrova, the 2005 champion. The 10th-ranked Pole, who won only three games against Petrova in their previous meeting this season, broke the Russian four times.

Zvonareva used powerful serves and groundstrokes against Cornet, who won her first WTA title in Budapest in July. Her next opponent is Bartoli.

Zvonareva earned a berth in the season-ending WTA Championships for the third time and first since 2005.

"It was a long road to Doha and I am very happy that I finally made it," Zvonareva said.