Pennetta making 10th bid to win Palermo
PALERMO, Sicily -- An Italian was assured of reaching the Palermo Open final after three advanced to the last four on Friday.
Top-seeded Flavia Pennetta, making her 10th bid to win Palermo, edged seventh-seeded Aravane Rezai of France 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
Need the scores from any match played in today's tournaments? Defending champion and fifth seed Sara Errani beat Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-2, 7-5 for her third consecutive Palermo semis, and Tathiana Garbin routed Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-2, 6-1.
Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany reached the final four when second-seeded Patty Schnyder, a former Palermo champion, retired with a left hip flexor strain while trailing 4-3.
In the semifinals, Errani will play Groenefeld, and Garbin will face Pennetta.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
