MOSCOW: World number one Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, defending champion Elena Dementieva, Dinara Safina and Vera Zvonareva, all from Russia, have reached the semi-finals of the Kreemlin Cup tennis tournament on Friday.

In the first quarter-finals of the event, Dementieva advanced to the semis with a tough 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (8/6) victory over Russian compatriot Nadia Petrova.

In the second quarter-finals, Jankovic, the top seed, was a 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 winner over Italian Flavia Penetta Penetta, recording her fifth victory over the 26-year-old Italian in as many meetings.

In the third quarter-finals, the tournament''s second seed, Dinara Safina of Russia, beat her fifth seeded compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 7-5 to record her seventh win in their 11th head-to-head clash.

Vera Zvonareva, the event''s seventh seed who completed the last-four line-up by beating Slovak Dominika Cibulkova 7-5, 6-4.

In the semi-finals, Jankovic will face defending champion and third seed Dementieva while Safina will meet another Russian, Vera Zvonareva.