SHANGHAI, Sept 13: Russia’s Anna Kournikova inched closer to her first career singles title Friday after a hard-fought quarter-final victory in the WTA Shanghai Open.

The fourth-seeded Kournikova was stretched by a surprisingly resilient Jelena Kostanic of Croatia, needing nearly two hours to secure a 7-5 6-4 win.

In Saturday’s semi-final, the glamour girl of tennis will play Ai Sugiyama of Japan, the number two seed, who trounced fifth-seeded Italian Adriana Serra-Zanetti 6-1 6-3.

Kournikova said she had not played Sugiyama for some time, but added that she was familiar with the power game favoured by the smaller Japanese player.

Results:

Quarterfinals: Angelique Widjaja (Indonesia) beat 3-Clara Fernandez (Argentina) 7-6 (7-2) 6-3; 2-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) beat 5-Adriana Serra-Zanetti (Italy) 6-1 6-3; 1-Anna Smashnova (Israel) beat Miho Saeki (Japan) 6-3 6-2; 4-Anna Kournikova (Russia) beat Jelena Kostanic (Croatia) 7-5 6-4—Reuters