Fifth seed Elena Dementieva recovered from a mid-match meltdown to beat fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 6-1 6-7 6-3 on Tuesday and reach the Wimbledon semi-finals.

Dementieva was a set and two breaks up before throwing the 21st seed a lifeline by double-faulting to hand Petrova her first break. Another break by Petrova followed and what should have been an easy win turned into a more intriguing encounter.

Dementieva, the highest remaining women’s seed in the draw, held two match points in the second-set tiebreak but a resilient Petrova forced the match into a decider before reverting to making the type of unforced errors that riddled the first set.

The 26-year-old Dementieva stormed to a 4-0 lead in the third and finally wrapped up the match with a scorching forehand crosscourt winner to set up a last-four encounter with champion Venus Williams.