Top seed Vera Zvonareva withstood a strong second-set challenge from Sybille Bammer to power through to the semi-finals of the Pattaya Open yesterday.
The Russian eventually came good 6-0, 7-6 (7/5) against the gutsy Austrian, who struggled badly in the opening set before finding her game in the second.
Zvonareva broke to lead 2-0, and Bammer failed to convert four game points before the top seed broke again to lead 4-0.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Zvonareva then dropped just one point in the final two games of the set, running in to reach a dropshot and hitting a winning pass to clinch the set.
Bammer broke to lead 2-1 in the second set and, although she allowed the Russian to level at 2-2, Zvonareva made a forehand error on break point in the next game and allowed Bammer to once again take the lead.
Bammer, though, failed to serve out the set at 5-4 as Zvonareva broke to love.
The Austrian also missed another opportunity to take the match into a third set when she served at 5-4 in the tiebreak and the match ended when Bammer sent a return long.
In other matches, Tamarine Tanasugarn kept the Thai challenge alive after she beat Ana Chakvetadze of Russia 6-1, 6-4.
Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan managed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 victory in a marathon battle with Ekaterina Bychkova of Russia while No. 4 seed Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan beat Germany’s Tatjana Malek 7-6(4) 6-1.
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