Vera Zvonareva resisted a second-set fightback from Sybille Bammer to storm into the semi-finals of the Pattaya Open.
Top seed advances to final four in Thailand
Top seed Vera Zvonareva resisted a second-set fightback from Sybille Bammer to cement her place in the semi-finals of the Pattaya Open in Thailand.
The Russian eventually prevailed 6-0 7-6 (7-5) against Austrian left-hander Bammer, who floundered in the opening set but gathered herself to deliver a gutsy display in the second.
"I think I came out and played very well, very consistent in the first set and I think she (Bammer) was struggling to find her rhythm a little bit," said Zvonareva.
"I was very precise with my shots and my level of concentration was very good. And then second set, she knew she had to be a little bit more consistent and go for her shots a little more."
Fifth seed Bammer struggled from the beginning as Zvonareva broke to open a 2-0 lead, and the Austrian's woes continued as she failed to convert four game points.
Defending champion Zvonareva then broke again to lead 4-0 when Bammer fumbled a simple smash.
Error
The Russian dropped just one point in the concluding two games before running in to reach a dropshot and firing a winner to wrap up the set.
Bammer took a brief off-court break and returned in a determined frame of mind for the second set, breaking to lead 2-1 when Zvonareva double-faulted.
Although the Austrian allowed Zvonareva to level at 2-2, the Russian made a forehand error on break point in the next game and Bammer regained the lead.
Bammer, however, failed to serve out the set at 5-4, opening the game with two serves that fell short of the net before hitting a further double-fault to drop 0-40 behind and making a forehand error as Zvonareva broke to love.
The Austrian squandered another chance to send the match into a third set when she served at 5-4 in the tiebreak, losing both points.
The match was wrapped up when the umpire over-ruled the line judge and called Bammer's return long, sealing the win for Zvonareva.
The Russian will now face fourth seed Yaroslava Shvedova in the semi-final after the Kazakh saw off German Tatjana Malek 7-6 (7-4) 6-1.
Meanwhile, Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand defeated Russian Anna Chakvetadze 6-1 6-4 to line up a semi-final meeting with Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan, who beat Ekaterina Bychkova of Russia 7-5 4-6 7-5.
