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Marina Erakovic in action at the French Open - Source: Reuters -
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Kiwi tennis ace Marina Erakovic has progressed to the doubles semifinals of the Stanford WTA tournament, combining with Briton Heather Watson to beat second-seeded Americans Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears 7-6(9) 2-6 7-3.
Erakovic and Watson had their chances early in the opening set, breaking serve to take a 4-2 advantage. But their rivals broke back to level at 4-4 and eventually take the set into a tiebreaker.
The Kiwi and Briton again had a chance to capture the set at 6-4, but were again thwarted and finally prevailed 11-9 in just under an hour.
They were immediately broken to begin the second set and then again in their next service game to drop the second set 2-6
The rookie combo made no mistake in the super tiebreaker, though, needing just one match point to run out winners in 1h 41m.
Erakovic and Watson won't know their semifinals opponents until tomorrow, when the Kiwi, with a singles ranking of 50 in the world, is also due to face Pole Urszula Radwanska, ranked 57th.
Erakovic beat Radwanska in the first round at Wimbledon two weeks ago.