By ,
Published February 05, 2015
Birmingham, England (SportsNetwork.com) - Top-seeded former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic eased into the semifinals, while third-seeded American Sloane Stephens suffered a quarterfinal upset Friday at the Aegon Classic, a grass- court Wimbledon tune-up.
The former French Open champion Ivanovic got past sixth-seeded Czech Klara Koukalova 6-1, 6-4, while ninth-seeded Chinese Zhang Shuai upended Stephens in 6-3, 6-1 fashion at Edgbaston Priory Club.
Ivanovic and Zhang will do battle on Saturday.
The other semifinal will pit 16th-seeded Aussie Casey Dellacqua against unseeded Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. Dellacqua drilled 43-year-old Japanese Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-1, 6-0, while Zahlavova Strycova upended fourth- seeded Belgian Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 6-2.
The 2014 Aegon champion will collect $120,000.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/ivanovic-reaches-semis-stephens-exits-birmingham