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Published January 08, 2015
By Barney Spender
PARIS (Reuters) - Top seed Elena Dementieva came from a set down to beat Germany's Andrea Petkovic 3-6 6-4 6-2 on Friday to book a place in the semi-finals of the Paris Indoor Open. The Russian next meets unseeded American Melanie Oudin, 18, who also fought back to defeat 2008 finalist Agnes Szavay of Hungary 2-6 6-4 6-2.
The other semi-final will see number two seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy take on Czech Lucie Safarova.
Pennetta took 58 minutes to dismiss compatriot Tathiana Garbin 6-1 6-3 while Safarova, a finalist here in 2007, was five minutes quicker in beating sixth-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer 6-3 6-0.
Dementieva, the world number seven, had to work hard against Petkovic whose heavy serve and bullet returns caused a host of problems.
"I saw her match against (Aravane) Rezai so I knew she was playing well but I didn't expect this much from her," a relieved Dementieva told reporters.
"She is a young player with lots of talent and had nothing to lose. It was a tough game, we were fighting for every point so I am just happy to get through."
The 22-year-old Petkovic broke Dementieva in the fourth game and went on to take the first set.
Petkovic again broke serve early in the second before Dementieva hit back to level at 2-2.
The Russian's next service game lasted some 15 minutes with six deuces. But she held on before going on to break serve again and set up a deciding set.
The final set saw three breaks in the first four games before Dementieva finally got the measure of her opponent.
Oudin was also outplayed by Szavay in the first set before turning the match around by recovering from 3-1 down in the second.
(Editing by Tony Jimenez)
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/top-seed-dementieva-lines-up-paris-semi-against-oudin