Stosur beats Pironkova to qualify for WTA Sofia semi-finals

Australia's Samantha Stosur is through to the WTA Tournament of Champions semi-finals after beating Bulgarian wildcard Tsvetana Pironkova in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4 in Sofia.

According to the Courier Mail, fourth-seeded Stosur will face Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for a place in the final, while Saturday's other semi-final will feature former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic against in-form Romanian Simona Halep, who has five titles to her name this year.

Stosur said that she definitely got a lot tighter as the match went on, adding that she got off to a great start, then a tough service game trying to serve out the set but thankfully, she got through that.

The Australian added that it had been great to be able to carry on from the last three or four weeks.

Pavlyuchenkova, seeded sixth, accounted for French No.7 seed Alize Cornet 6-2 6-2, the report said.

Ivanovic, the world No.16 and second seed, made it to the last four despite losing her last group match 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-1) to Russia's No.5 seed Elena Vesnina, the report added.

The 22-year-old Halep made the semi-finals by winning all three group matches without conceding a set and dropping just 16 games, according to the report.