Davenport eases into Auckland semi-finals

AUCKLAND (Reuters) - Lindsay Davenport continued her smooth progress towards another title as she cruised past Sara Errani of Italy 6-3 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the Auckland Classic on Thursday.

The former world number one, in just her fourth tournament back after a year out in which she had her first child, needed just 57 minutes to see off the world number 69.

The American said she had been troubled by some early-season soreness.

"I have a few aches and pains in my body," Davenport told reporters.

"My arm was a bit sore today but hopefully it will all hang together for another couple of days."

Davenport, who has now won 16 of her 17 matches since returning to the WTA Tour in September, will now take on Tamira Paszek of Austria.

The 17-year-old Paszek, 14 years younger than Davenport, will be the American's semi-final opponent after she upset Russian second seed Maria Kirilenko 6-1 6-3.

The top three seeds all bit the dust on Thursday with number one Vera Zvonareva and number three Katarina Srebotnik joining Kirilenko on the sidelines.

Zvonareva, the runner-up in 2006 and 2007, was ousted 6-3 2-6 7-6 by New Zealand wildcard Marina Erakovic in a match which saw the Russian complain about a series of linecalls.

In what will be her first WTA Tour semi-final, Erakovic will take on Aravane Rezai of France, who beat Srebotnik 6-1 6-3.

(Writing by Simon Cambers in Perth, editing by Alan Baldwin)