Top seed Vera Zvonareva overcame a nose bleed and a tricky opponent in Gisela Dulko to move through to the semifinals of the Cellular South Cup in Memphis. Zvonareva played for most of the second set with tissue stemming the flow from her nose before winning 6-3, 6-4 to set up a clash with her doubles partner Maria Sharapova.

"Sometimes it's happened before," said Zvonareva. "I had to play with tissue in my nostril and they put some spray on. It's not very comfortable, but it's fine."

In a battle of the 19-year-olds on Stadium court, Zvonareva put the inconvenience of the nose bleed behind her to reach the semifinals in Memphis for the first time in her three appearances. The World No. 12, looking for her second career title following her victory in Bol in 2003, also is appearing in her first semifinal of the season. Her best result prior to this week was her career-best fourth round showing at the Australian Open, where she eventually lost to Lindsay Davenport.

"In the first set, all my shots were pretty good and I was serving very well," said Zvonareva. "Second set, I had a bleeding nose so I had to stop for about 10 minutes. Then I was a little bit nervous because she started to play a little better, but then I took my time and I started to play much better without any mistakes and that's why I won."

Great Player

Looking ahead to her semifinal with Sharapova, Zvonareva added: "I've never played her before. I know she's a really great player, so we'll see. I'm going to have to play my best to beat her and that's what I'll try to do. We'll have to play doubles afterwards, so I think we'll be a really good team."

Meanwhile, in a battle between the youngest and oldest players in the draw, the 16-year-old Sharapova advanced to the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Amy Frazier. Sharapova, the No. 3 seed making her debut in Memphis, took just 72 minutes to defeat the No. 6 seeded Frazier, the 31-year-old who reached a career-high ranking of No. 13 back in 1995. Sharapova, the World No. 25, is looking to capture her third career WTA Tour title this week.

Also through to the semifinals for the second consecutive year is fourth seeded American Laura Granville, who overcame No. 7 seed Kristina Brandi 6-3, 7-5. The 22-year-old Granville is looking to win her first WTA Tour title.