Lisicki powers into Pattaya semi-finals

Germany's Sabine Lisicki reached her first semi-final in two years on Friday when she clawed her way past New Zealand's Marina Erakovic 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 at the Pattaya Open. Lisicki's last semi-final spot was at this same Thai venue in 2011, the same year she reached the Wimbledon last four. That helped her to a ranking of 12 in the world, but an injury-hit 2012 saw her slip out of the top 50. "I didn't serve perfectly," the fifth-seeded Lisicki said. "My service games were always close, but I was also almost always holding. "That gave me a lot of confidence later when I was a break point down or at 15-30, that I could serve my way out of it. Sometimes the negative, you can turn into a positive." Lisicki will face Russia's Nina Bratchikova, who defeated Japan's Ayumi Morita 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, for a spot in the final. Saturday's other semi-final will see fourth seeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea take on second seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia. Cirstea needed just 56 minutes to record a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova while Kirilenko fought off two set points in the first set tie-break and reeled off five straight games to get past compatriot Elena Vesnina, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3. From : AFP