France's Rezai reaches Bali semi-final

Rezai, ranked 44th in the world, is enjoying a breakthrough season after winning her first career title in Strasbourg.

France's Aravane Rezai made a miracle recovery to earn the first of the semi-final places at the Bali Tournament of Champions Thursday.

Her 6-3, 7-5 defeat of Hungarian Melinda Czink in 89 minutes gave Rezai a perfect 2-0 record in her group after an opening-day win over Sabine Lisicki of Germany.

Rezai, ranked 44th in the world, is enjoying a breakthrough season after winning her first career title in Strasbourg before the start of Roland Garros.

- It was pretty tough, a very difficult set - said the winner. - At 5-1 down, I thought I had nothing to lose and it would be better to fight.

- She got nervous because she saw that I was present on the court. I took my chances for the win. -

Israeli Shahar Peer made her debut here with a 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Magdalena Rybarikova to knock the Slovak out of weekend contention at the 12-woman event.

- I'm glad I found a way to win... in two sets - said Peer. - It could have easily gone to a third. I played very smart today and did the right thing.

- I served and returned pretty well. -

Peer next faces top seed Marion Bartoli with the winner joining Rezai in the last four.

The Israeli came to Indonesia under a political cloud after a struggle to get a visa.

But efforts to avoid a repeat of February, when she was excluded from Dubai, proved successful with officials in the world most populous Muslim nation eventually allowing her entry.

The field at the 600,000-dollar tournament comprises the 10 highest-ranking players who have won a WTA International title this year but who did not compete in the season-ending WTA Championships in Qatar, which finished Sunday.

Two wildcards are also included.

Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez put paid to Agnes Szavay with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 win, leaving the Hungarian 0-2.

But 39-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm grabbed a lifeline thanks to a straight-sets 6-4, 6-3 win against Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues, a victory that keeps Asia's only entrant in with a chance of making the weekend.

Date Krumm piled on the pressure with 15 break points, converging on six of them to improve to a 1-1 record after two matches.