Melbourne - Vera Zvonareva booked the first of the semi-final places at the Australian Open on Tuesday as the Russian moved towards a breakthrough top five ranking with a 6-3, 6-0 defeat of Marion Bartoli.

Zvonareva is the forgotten figure among her more prominent Russian colleagues, her low-key profile assuring she remains in the shadows of the sport.

But the 24-year-old took her biggest step at a major with the victory over France's 2007 Wimbledon finalist.

Zvonareva's win over 16th seed Bartoli was her eighth from nine matches in that one-way series. The winner recovered nicely from 3-1 down to win the next 11 games.

"I really thought Marion was playing really well in the beginning and I made a few unforced errors, so that's why I think I was down," said Zvonareva.

"But I was able to cut down on my unforced errors and keep a good level of play throughout the whole match. I think it made the difference."

The winner has yet to drop a set during the fortnight. "I'm not really thinking about the scores or sets or any statistics. I'm just trying to concentrate on every match and trying my best in every match."

"And I think I've been doing pretty good so far."

Zvonareva will face the winner from the red-hot night quarter-final between new Aussie heroine Jelena Dokic and fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.

A loss by the Russian would help Zvonareva's chances of cracking the top five for the first time in her career.

"I'm pretty confident in myself. If I'm in the tournament, I'm here to try to win it," she said.

"But I'm really concentrating on every match, it doesn't really matter what's happening around any other matches," Zvonareva added. "That's why I'm just looking forward for the next one, not thinking about anything else." (dpa)