Flavia Sets Up Dinara Clash in Stuttgart Semis

Elena Dementieva wore down Marion Bartoli on Thursday to reach the semifinals of the Porsche Grand Prix for the third time. Standing in the way of a first Stuttgart final for the No.2 seed is fellow Russian and four-time semifinalist Svetlana Kuznetsova, who dismissed upset artist Gisela Dulko in straight sets. World No.1 Dinara Safina also advanced and will play Flavia Pennetta, who stunned defending champ Jelena Jankovic. 

Olympic champion Dementieva needed four match points to finish off Bartoli, hitting a deep backhand on the line to clinch her third consecutive victory over the 2007 Wimbledon finalist.

"I am very glad I was able to finish strongly," said 27-year-old Dementieva, who is looking for her third title of the season after success at Auckland and Sydney in January. "It was a very emotional match for both of us."

Having won the opener Dementieva was up a break in the second, but Bartoli pocketed three games in a row to level at one set apiece. Although the Frenchwoman squandered one set point, Dementieva double-faulted to present her opponent with another opportunity, and that was snapped up.

In the third set, steady play saw world No.3 Dementieva build a 4-0 lead, while Bartoli's double-fisted winners were undermined by errors. The Frenchwoman fought back to 3-4 before Dementieva regrouped to seal the win, 62 46 63.

Earlier this week, Argentina's Dulko stunned fourth seed Victoria Azarenka in the second round of the $700,000 event, but she was no match today for the steady power of fifth seed Kuznetsova, who moved to her second semi of 2009, 63 61.

The upset of the day was caused by world No.14 Pennetta, who lifted her career a gear or two in 2008 with a couple of key wins over Venus Williams, and despite being title-less in 2009, has emerged as a consistent threat to the Top 10.

As Jankovic learnt the last time the pair played, in Zürich last October, the Italian's flamboyant style is hard to counter when she is on song; despite losing the first set today and trailing 2-0 in the final set, the unseeded 27-year-old fought back and only needed one match point for victory, 26 64 64. Propelled by 32 winners, Pennetta had improved her record against the former world No.1 to 2-5; this is also the first time she has beaten two Top 10 players in the same tournament (she beat No.10 Nadia Petrova earlier this week).

Passage was more straightforward for top seed Safina, who won her first ever match against eighth-seeded Radwanska without incident, 64 62. The just-turned-23-year-old Russian is 5-0 lifetime against Pennetta, so will go into Saturday's semis as the favorite. The rivalry between Dementieva and Kuznetsova is rather closer: six of their nine meetings have gone to three sets, with the younger Kuznetsova holding the edge, 5-4. On the downside, Kuznetsova has lost her last eight matches against fellow Top 10 players.

In another surprise, doubles top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber ousted in a match tie-break by Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Nadia Petrova, 75 46 107. The American-Russian duo now face No.3 seeds Virginia Ruano Pascual and Zheng Jie in the semis, while Dulko and Pennetta take on German wildcards Andrea Petkovic and Jasmin Woehr.