Tennis News : Azarenka overcomes Pegula fightback to reach Berlin semis

Number seven seed Victoria Azarenka battled into the semi-finals of the Berlin Open on Friday with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Jessica Pegula of the United States. The former world number one looked set to cruise into the last four when she took the first set in rapid time and led 4-2 in the second, but Pegula, who knocked Azarenka out of the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, won five of the next six games to force a decider. The pair swapped four breaks of serve at the start of the third before Azarenka made the crucial breakthrough in the seventh game and served out for the win after an hour and 51 minutes. Azarenka continued her encouraging form on grass ahead of Wimbledon later this month and the 31 year-old will face Liudmila Samsonova next in a Belarus v Russia battle for a place in the final.