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August 7, 2011

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Ivanovic packs off Peng in Carlsbad

VERA Zvonareva got through a tough three-setter against Sabine Lisicki to move into the semifinals of the Mercury Insurance Open in Carlsbad, California, as the top three seeds all won on Friday.

Top-seeded Zvonareva staved off three break points in the third set then broke in the seventh game en route to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win.

No. 2 seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany beat American Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-1 and third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland recovered from a shoulder injury and an awful first set to oust Slovak Daniela Hantuchova 0-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic showed some vintage form to recover from a 1-4 deficit in the opening set and beat fourth-seeded Peng Shuai of China 6-4, 6-2.

After Zvonareva held serve for a 5-3 edge in the final set, she squandered two match points on Lisicki's serve as the German got to 5-4. Zvonareva finally won on her serve in the next game after Lisicki saved two more matches before she hit a forehand long.

"It was one of the most important moments in the match because you never want to go down a break in such a tight match and against a good server like Sabine," the Russian said. "After that, I didn't lose the concentration in the next game. I was able to break her right away and that was a key moment."

Zvonareva's opponent will be Ivanovic, who showed flashes of brilliance with a much-improved serve and precision winners on both forehand and backhand.

"I started swinging a lot more," the Serb said of her rally from the 1-4 deficit. "I was a little bit pushing, a little bit not trying to make a mistake and tried to place the ball rather than just commit and hit."

In Washington, Gael Monfils put one hand on the trophy of the Legg Mason Classic by beating Janko Tipsarevic in straight sets on Friday while his four main rivals lost.

The top-seeded Frenchman won 6-4, 6-4 to set up a semifinal against big-serving American John Isner, who beat Viktor Trocki, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-1.

Monfils and No. 11 Isner are the only seeded players left in the draw after Friday's elimination of Serb pair Troicki and Tipsarevic, third and sixth, respectively, plus No. 5 Fernando Verdasco and No. 7 Marcos Baghdatis.

Czech veteran Radek Stepanek beat Spain's Verdasco 6-4, 6-4, and will next take on American Donald Young, who downed Cyprus' Baghdatis 6-3, 7-6 (4).



 

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