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By Adrianna Outlaw | Friday, February 12, 2016

Roberta Vinci showed strong survival skills rallying to win a thriller. Ana Ivanovic unleashed her forehand powering into her first semifinal of the season in St. Petersburg.

Vinci fought back from a 3-5 third-set deficit then came back from 2-4 down in the decisive tie breaker winning five consecutive points to close a pulsating 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (4) victory over Timea Babos.

Watch: Henin's Return

Babos belted seven of her 12 aces in the final set and was on the verge of a semifinal berth before Vinci broke back. The US Open finalist turned the tie breaker around wrapping up a hard-fought victory in two hours, 33 minutes.

The second-seeded Italian will face Ivanovic for a spot in Sunday's final. Ivanovic has won six of nine meetings with the 16th-ranked Vinci. This will be their first meeting since 2013.

The fourth-seeded Ivanovic breezed through the opening set then navigated a challenging second set for a 6-1, 7-5 triumph over 21-year-old Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Kozlova, 6-1, 7-5.


 

@anaivanovic / Katerina Kozlova 6:1 7:5 bravo Ana👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻⭐️ #поранатеннис #WTA #ladiestrophy

A photo posted by St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy (@formula_tx) on



The former world No. 1 advanced to her first semifinal since she defeated Venus Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in succession to reach the Beijing final four last October.

Dominika Cibulkova faces Daria Kasatkina and top-seeded Belinda Bencic meets the fifth-seeded Pavlyuchenkova in the day's final quarterfinal.


 

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