Ana Ivanovic held her nerve to reach the Brisbane International semi-finals where she will play Justine Henin.

The Serbian third seed came through her quarter-final with promising Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2 7-6(6) on Thursday.

Ivanovic definitely has not taken the easy route to the semi-finals after two draining three setters, in the early rounds. She looked set to play a third when Pavlyuchenkova fought back from 4-0 down in the second set to force a tiebreak.

The 18-year-old even held a set point at 6-5 in the tiebreak before a frustrated Ivanovic dug deep to close out the match.

Ivanovic is a firm favourite with the Brisbane crowd due to her romance with Australian golfer Adam Scott. With Scott looking on calmly in attendance, Ivanovic’s progress was initially very smooth.

The former French Open champion and world number one broke and then it appeared to be all one way traffic. On a roll, Ivanovic whizzed through seven straight games to take the first set and lead 4-0 in the second.

Pavlyuchenkova appeared to have no answers to the onslaught and the game looked dead and buried. However the Russian teen had other ideas, launching her own counter attack, breaking three times to  serve for the set at 6-5.

Somehow Ivanovic managed to compose herself and break back but she still faced difficulties in the tiebreak, 1-4 down and then facing set point at 5-6.

However with the crowd firmly behind her, Ivanovic found enough to finally clinch her first win at the tournament in straight sets.

If she is to challenge in the Australian Open, Ivanovic badly needs to clear some more rust as stern tests will await starting with Justine Henin in the semi-finals.

You can watch Ana Ivanovic play Justine Henin in the Brisbane International for free on bet365. To watch, simply follow these 3 simple steps:

1. Go to bet365 and sign-up or register (it's free)
2. Click on Sports > Live Streaming > Tennis
3. Watch Henin vs Ivanovic for free