Peng makes Tashkent semifinals

Top-seeded Shuai Peng dropped a set Friday but still was able to lead four of the top five seeds into the semifinals of Uzbekistan's $145,000 Tashkent Open.

Peng lost a first-set tiebreaker before storming back for a 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-4 win over Monica Niculescu in quarterfinal play of the hard-court tournament.

Peng is to square off against fourth-seeded Sabine Lisicki in Saturday's semifinals. Lisicki also needed to rally to get past Urszula Radwanska 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4).

Third-seeded Sorana Cirstea stopped Michelle Larcher de Brito 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) and earned a semifinal berth against No. 5-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova, who breezed by Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

Saturday's semifinas winners meet Sunday with a first-place check of $22,925 at stake.