Golovin Kicks Venus off Amelia Island; Ivanovic, Petrova, Bammer Still Alive

Petrova, the top seed in this year's draw, was pushed to the limit by the No.5 seed for over two hours, but managed to grab crucial breaks in the last game of each set to clinch the win, her fifth in their five meetings.

"We were really trying our best, and fought for every single point; we both wanted to win this match really badly," Petrova said. "It was a really nice crowd today. I really feel like the clay court game is suiting me."

Last year, Petrova began an incredible clay court run at this very event, winning the title here and then capturing consecutive Tier Is on the dirt at Charleston and Berlin. She also cracked the world's Top 3 in that time, becoming just the third from her nation to crack that elite, after Anastasia Myskina in 2004 and Maria Sharapova in 2005. Svetlana Kuznetsova became the fourth last month.

Next up for Petrova is No.13 seed Sybille Bammer, who continued her breakout year with a hard-fought 26 62 62 victory against No.3 seed Daniela Hantuchova in the afternoon. The win was her third over a Top 20 player; she earned her first two during her semifinal run at Indian Wells just a few weeks back.

"I wasn't playing well in the first set; after that, I decided to forget about it and just try to play my best in the second and third set," Bammer said. "At the end I was a little tight but I was lucky and closed it out. It gives me a lot of confidence to reach the semifinals here."

Petrova and Bammer have played once before, in Bammer's hometown of Linz in 2005; the Russian prevailed there, 62 36 63, but trailed 3-1 in that third set.

"I had a nasty experience with her in Linz," Petrova said. "Luckily I was able to win the match. She runs for everything and gets every ball back. I'll really have to step forward and take charge; otherwise, she'll make me run."

Teenagers square off in first semifinal on Saturday

Prior to the semifinal between Petrova and Bammer, a pair of 19-year-olds will battle for a place in the Bausch & Lomb Championships final, as No.6 seed Ana Ivanovic faces No.8 seed Tatiana Golovin. Ivanovic was the first to advance to the semifinals with a 75 63 victory over No.2 seed Jelena Jankovic. Jankovic hung tough in both sets but it was Ivanovic who won three consecutive games to finish each one. She served the match out easily, ending it with three straight aces.

"I was having problems with my serve early on in the match but it really helped me in the end," said Ivanovic, whose win over her fellow Serb was her seventh Top 10 win. "Playing someone from your own country is different; we don't get the opportunity too often. It's a bit emotional but it's important to play your own game and not worry about who's on the other side of the net."

"I was swinging at the ball, but nothing was going in the court. What can I do?" said Jankovic, who fell to 1-3 against Ivanovic. "I made so many errors and just wasn't on top of my game. I think I played pretty well in the first two rounds but today was an overall bad day for me. But I wish Ana good luck in the semis."

This is Ivanovic's first tournament on green clay, which is currently only on Tour at Amelia Island and Charleston. But she seems to be comfortable so far.

"My first match was tough but I like it and am enjoying it and looking forward to the clay court season," Ivanovic said. "I'd never played on green clay. It's a bit faster than red clay but not that much faster."

Golovin had a more comprehensive win over the only unseeded name to make the quarters, Venus Williams. The Frenchwoman won 10 of the first 12 games of the match to go ahead 62 40, then dropped three straight games before closing it out two more games later.

"It's one of the better matches I've played all season," Golovin said. "When she's in top form she's tough to beat, but she hasn't played too many tournaments so I don't think she was playing at 100%. But I put a lot of pressure on her, getting everything back and fighting in the second set. I think she felt I was playing well, so she started going for more and making mistakes. It's a really good win."

"I'm definitely disappointed," said Williams, the 2002 Amelia Island champion. "I was playing pretty well in this tournament and would have loved to win this match but she just played better today. I had so many errors today it was tough to play against her and me at the same time."

Ivanovic is 5-0 lifetime against Golovin, but none of those have been blow-outs. They have gone to three sets twice, the Serb winning one of those in a third set tie-break and one 7-5 in the third; all three of her two set wins have been tight.

"Obviously she is in good form," Ivanovic said. "I've played her five times and we've had really good matches. Whoever plays better will win."

"I always have a tough time against her, but I'm playing well and feeling good," said Golovin. "We've never played this deep in the draw. It'll be a good one."

Ivanovic and Golovin start the semifinal proceedings Saturday afternoon at 1pm, which will be followed immediately by Petrova against Bammer. The two doubles semis will be straight after those, pitting Spanish team Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual against Janette Husarova and Meghann Shaughnessy and Cara Black and Liezel Huber versus Mara Santangelo and Katarina Srebotnik. (WTA)