BOL, Croatia, May 3 (UPI) -- Tathiana Garbin of Italy upset top seed Elena Dementieva of Russia, 5-7, 7-5, 7-5, Friday in a match that lasted nearly three hours in the quarterfinals of the claycourt Croatian Bol Ladies Open.
Dementieva, who has three runner-up finishes without winning a title, nearly staged a dramatic comeback, rallying from a 1-5 deficit to get even in the final set.
Gardin, whose only previous title came at the 2000 Budapest Open, won the final two games to advance to the semifinals in 2 hours, 55 minutes.
Dementieva's loss left Croatian Iva Majoji as the only seeded player to reach the final four. Majoli, the No. 4 seed, cruised past Russian qualifier Vera Zvonareva, 6-2, 6-0.
Ranked 58th, Majoli won her eighth title earlier this year at Charleston. It was first victory since capturing the French Open in 1997.
In Saturday's semifinals, Majoli will face qualifer Libuse Prusova of the Czech Republic, who advanced with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 triumph over Argentina's Mariana Diaz-Oliva, last year's runner-up.
Garbin, ranked 108th, takes on Sweden's Asa Svensson, a 7-5, 6-1 winner over Slovakia's Tina Pisnik, who defeated Russia's Anna Kournikova in three sets in the second round on Thursday.
Despite being the lowest-ranked player left in the field at 318th, Prusova had the easiest path to the final, losing only one set and 19 games. The 22-year-old has reached her first WTA Tour semifinal.
