Tennis: Classic's number two seed sent packing

Second seed Jelena Jankovic is gone, top seed Amy Frazier had a scare and an unheralded Slovenian has emerged as the surprise semifinalist after another day of dodging raindrops at the Auckland international tournament last night.

The upshot of a hectic day at the ASB Classic, which began at the city venue but finished at the indoor complex at North Harbour, is that the singles semifinals today - weather permitting - are between Frazier and No 4 seed Shinobu Asagoe, of Japan, and Marion Bartoli, the fifth seed from France and Katarina Srebotnik, of Slovenia.

The big turn-up was Bartoli's 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 win over the fast-rising Jankovic. Their biggest problem seemed to be holding serve.

Jankovic, who picked up a cold shortly after arriving in Auckland and didn't seem to fully recover, had a chance to win in straight sets in the tiebreak, after the temperamental 20-year-old Bartoli squandered a 5-2 advantage.

But Bartoli fought back. She took a toilet break before the deciding set, returned and ran away with it.

Bartoli was a beaten semifinalist in Auckland last year and is still chasing her first WTA singles crown.

Yesterday was her first match against Jankovic and it will also be her first contest with 23-year-old Srebotnik, who finished off her quarter-final - which began on Thursday night - against Israeli qualifier Shahar Peer, winning 6-1, 6-4.

Frazier has played Asagoe once before, winning in Hobart last January.

Her modus operandi is to go about things in an unflappable fashion, but she got a wake-up from pocket rocket Russian Tatiana Panova last night before winning 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-2.

The first two sets were tough going, with both players having, and wasting, openings before Frazier, who had problems with her serve, eased clear in the decider to make it four wins from as many matches against Panova.

"I was a litle shaky, a little flat, but I'm just happy to get through," Frazier said.

For the second game in succession, Asagoe had an opponent withdraw. In Wednesday's round of 16 it was American Shenay Perry who didn't make it the full distance. Yesterday, qualifier Janette Husarova pulled a stomach muscle and bailed out when trailing 5-2 in the first set.

Whether that lack of solid match-play affects Asagoe will only be known today.

As for world No 87 Srebotnik, life is looking pretty good right now.

She has two WTA singles titles to her name - Estoril in 1999 and Acapulco three years later - to go with an impressive seven doubles crowns and more than US$1 million ($1.4 million) in career earnings.

She is delighted to have had three wins on the bounce in Auckland.

"This week has been really amazing for me. I beat three girls in a row I lost to the last time I played them," she said.

Can she carry her run into the final, which is either on today or tomorrow depending on the weather?

"Everything is possible. To win it, that would be my dream."

Srebotnik described her win over Peer as "more like a cricket game, two days to finish".

Indeed, the engaging Srebotnik appears as relaxed as anyone at the unsettled nature of the past couple of days. She spent Thursday catching up on her laundry and, if today is washed out and the semifinals don't start until tomorrow, that's fine because "I'm used to it now".

The semifinals and final are set down for the ASB Tennis Centre today, but the option is tomorrow, or, as a last resort, indoors at North Harbour tomorrow.