Second Seed Peer Ousted; Rest of Top 4 Move On

The Top 4 seeds were all in action in the ECM Prague Open quarterfinals on Friday, and with the exception of one, it was a strong day for the favorites at the $145,000, Tier IV event.
 
Top seed Vera Zvonareva had little trouble in dismissing Roberta Vinci in just under an hour, 61 62. Zvonareva avenged a defeat in the pair's only previous encounter in the early rounds of the grass court stop in Eastbourne three years ago, where the Italian won in straight sets. It has been an incredibly consistent 2008 for the Russian, who was in her eighth quarterfinal of the year.
 
No.2 seed Shahar Peer was the fallen one as No.7 seed Klara Zakopalova picked her off, 76(5) 62. Zakopalova survived a strange first set that had eight breaks of serve, then cruised through the second set handily. It was her second win in as many meetings with Peer, having beaten her in straight sets at this same event in 2005. The win against the world No.18 also served as her fourth Top 20 win.
 
The other quarterfinals went to form, with No.3 seed Victoria Azarenka rolling past wildcard Karolina Pliskova, 62 61, and No.4 seed Katarina Srebotnik fighting off Iveta Benesova, 75 46 62. Srebotnik was perhaps on her way to a straight set win over Benesova, claiming the first set and opening up a 3-0 lead in the second. The left-hander rallied for a second set win but eventually lost in a hard-fought, 41-minute decider.
 
The semifinal match-ups pit Zvonareva against Srebotnik and Zakopalova against Azarenka. Zvonareva is 3-0 versus Srebotnik, having never lost more than four games per set in any of her three straight set wins; Zakopalova and the young Azarenka have never played.
 
Both doubles semifinals were also played Friday, with No.4 seeds Jill Craybas and Michaella Krajicek defeating Liga Dekmeijere and Ekaterina Dzehalevich in a match tie-break, 36 75 1412, and Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka beating Darya Kustova and Alicja Rosolska, 61 76(6).