Jelena Jankovic and Dinara Safina both reserved a spot in the semifinals in Los Angeles, and will play eachother for a spot in the final. Flavia Pennetta and Bethanie Mattek also moved closer to the title, as they also won their quarterfinal matches and will play eachother for a final berth.
Jankovic and Safina, seeded first and fourth, both won their matches against lower seeded opponents. Jankovic had a tough match against Nadia Petrova, but eventually won, 64 75, rallying back from 3-1 down in both sets. Safina had an easier match, winning against Victoria Azarenka, 63 61.
Jankovic is now two wins away from the No. 1 spot, but first she has to pass tough Russian Dinara Safina, who has won all her matches easily before getting to the semis.
On the bottom half of the draw, No.10 seed Pennetta and wildcard Mattek both survived some tougher tests against their quarterfinal opponents. Pennetta was pushed to three sets by No.14 seed Sybille Bammer before prevailing, 76(3) 36 61, while Mattek won the first set and rallied back from 5-2 down in the second set - including staving off double set point serving at 5-3 down - to beat China's Yuan Meng, 62 75. Pennetta is 3-1 in her career against Mattek, although the American's win did come in their most recent meeting.
Pennetta and Mattek are both playing in the semifinals of an event at the Tier II level or above for the very first time. Pennetta had reached 23 semifinals on the Tour before, but all came at the Tier III level or below; Mattek is a two-time semifinalist on the Tour, both coming at the Tier III level. Pennetta has been to 12 finals previously and is 6-6; it could be a first Tour singles final for Mattek.
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