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By Mark Lamport-Stokes
INDIAN WELLS, California, March 20 - Top-seeded
Ana Ivanovic of Serbia stormed into the Pacific Life Open
semi-finals with a 6-1 6-4 victory over Russia's Vera Zvonareva
on Thursday.
The 20-year-old, bidding for her first WTA title of the
year, outplayed her opponent in a baseline battle to seal
victory in just over an hour at Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
"I started really well," Ivanovic told reporters after
reaching her third semi-final of the season. "I thought I played
some of my best tennis here so I was really happy about that.
"In the second set, I had a break up and then lost a little
bit of concentration. I started to get a bit emotional and tried
to go for too much. I lost my rhythm a little bit.
"I was just happy that at the end of the second set, I
managed to keep calm and play good," added the Serb, who hit 18
winners in the match to Zvonareva's 10.
World number two Ivanovic, who lost to Russian Maria
Sharapova in the Australian Open final in January, broke
Zvonareva in the second and fourth games to breeze through the
opening set in 24 minutes.
Service breaks were exchanged early in the second set before
the pony-tailed Serb again broke in the ninth game when
Zvonareva hit a forehand wide.
Ivanovic served out for victory to book a place in the last
four against either American Lindsay Davenport or third-seeded
Serb Jelena Jankovic, who were playing later in the day.
"It doesn't get easy from here," Ivanovic. "It only gets
tougher every match. They're both great players.
"Jelena and I have played many times before and we always
have close matches. Lindsay I have never played so I would like
to have the challenge and the opportunity to play against her."
Fourth-seeded Sharapova and fellow Russian Svetlana
Kuznetsova, the second seed, will contest the other semi-final
after winning their quarter-finals matches on Wednesday.
(Editing by Trevor Huggins)