Moscow, Russia, 20 October 2012 | AFP/AP

Top-seeded Australian Sam Stosur eased into the Kremlin Cup semifinals on Friday with a 6-1 6-3 win over Czech Klara Zakopalova to set up a clash with former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic in Moscow.

World No.9 Stosur, who kept Zakopalova back on the baseline and made it hard for her opponent to come forward, won six consecutive games in the first set.

But the Australian trailed 3-1 in the second before recovering with a break in the sixth game and going on to serve out the match at love.

“I guess it’s sometimes hard to come in off my balls because I thought I was hitting the ball quite deep,” Stosur said.

“When your opponent’s doing that it’s hard to come in. She likes to hit the ball hard and get her opponent stretching and then when she sees deep she comes in. But I think in the first set I was able to shut that down and play more offensive than what she was for much of the match.”

She will now face Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion and fourth seed, who also advanced into the semifinals beating unheralded compatriot Vesna Dolonc 6-4 6-1 in an all-Serbian quarterfinal.

“It’s going to be a tough match as we didn’t play each other for a long time,” Stosur said about Saturday’s semifinal.

“I’m going to be ready for anything. I shall concentrate on my own game, be ready to work hard and be also ready for long rallies.”

Third seed Caroline Wozniacki defeated defending champion Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia to also advance.

Former world No.1 Wozniacki won 6-2 6-7(1) 6-1 to record her ninth win over Cibulkova, who is 14th in the rankings, in their 12th head-to-head meeting.

“It was a very good match as both of us played very well,” Wozniacki said.

“The difference at the end was that I could just keep my highest level up and I managed to win the most important points, especially at the beginning of the third set.”

In Saturday’s semifinal, Wozniacki will face Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden.

Arvidsson, ranked 46th in the world, saw off seventh seed Maria Kirilenko, the last Russian player in the draw, 6-3 6-3.