Ana Ivanovic in SFS. St Petersburg open 2016

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia

Ana Ivanovic moved confidently in the semifinals of the St. Petersburg Ladies Open with a 6-1, 7-5 win over qualifier kozlova.

In her opening round match, Ivanovic took a while to get into her groove, but against Kozlova she hit the ground running, reeling off five straight games to pocket the opening set in 23 minutes. Kozlova, who was appearing the quarterfinals of a Premier event for the first time, gave a better account of herself in the second, battling back from 5-3 down before eventually succumbing.

Meeting Ivanovic for a place in the final will be another of the draw's more established names, Roberta Vinci.

And Vinci needed to draw on all her experience to see off tinea babos in an absorbing encounter, 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(4). Babos was in command for much of the final set, leading 5-3 and then 4-2 in the tie-break, but on each occasion could not find the decisive blow.