Top seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy overcame second set deficit to beat Russian Nadia Petrova 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinal match of the Estoril Open on Thursday.

"She beat me the last two times we played but it was on hardcourt, and on clay it's different," said Vinci. "I play better on clay. Today I was able to play a good game with good structure in the points, and that was probably the key."

Vinci next faces sixth seeded Kaia Kanepi, who edged past fouth seeded Petra Cetkovska 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Carla Suarez Navarro defeated Sílvia Soler-Espinosa 6-3, 6-3 to set up next round clash with Italian qualifier Karin Knapp, who defeated Galina Voskoboeva in hard fought three sets with 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-4 scoreline.

Later, Suarez Navarro said "I'm happy to be in the semifinals. We are friends so it was not easy to play."