Friday, May. 02, 2008

Zvonareva lands in Prague semis

By Sports Network

Top-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva led the charge into the semifinals at the $145,000 Prague Open.

Zvonareva zipped past Italian Roberta Vinci 6-1, 6-2 on the red clay at this French Open tune-up and will now face fourth-seeded Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik here on Saturday. Srebotnik held off Czech favorite Iveta Benesova 7-5, 4-6, 6-2. Benesova was a finalist in Portugal just two weeks ago.

In Friday's other quarterfinals, seventh-seeded Czech veteran Klara Zakopalova ousted second-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 and third-seeded Belarusian Victoria Azarenka dismantled 16-year-old old Czech wild card Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 6-1.

The 2008 Prague winner will collect $22,900.