Bartoli has easy ride to Eastbourne last four

By Clare Fallon

EASTBOURNE (Reuters) - Marion Bartoli, on the mend after a wrist injury, reached the semi-finals of the Eastbourne International on Thursday by making short work of Russian qualifier Alisa Kleybanova.

Second seed Bartoli, the Wimbledon runner-up last year, will play fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in Friday's semi-finals after her 6-3 6-3 win.

Australian Samantha Stosur continued her comeback trail from serious illness by becoming the first woman into the last four of the grasscourt event, where she will face eighth seed Nadia Petrova of Russia.

Frenchwoman Bartoli, ranked 11th in the world and the top surviving seed after Svetlana Kuznetsova was beaten in the second round, raced to a 5-0 lead before Kleybanova began to fight back, winning three games in a row and saving two set points.

Bartoli, though, wrapped up the set in the ninth game and immediately went on the attack at the start of the second set, when Kleybanova had to save two break points.

By the end of the set the French player, who lost in her first match in Birmingham last week after aggravating a wrist injury, was in imperious form, hitting three aces in the eighth game and winning the ninth on a break to love.

"I am feeling really well and I am really happy to be back on track and to feel healthy again," Bartoli told a news conference.

Stosur overcame the windy conditions at Devonshire Park to beat Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki 7-6 6-4.