Erakovic was broken in the first game of the match and quickly conceded the opening set to the 30-year-old Russian.
The second set seemed to be going the same way before the Kiwi No 1 clawed her way back to win three games on the trot. Erakovic prevailed 8-6 in the tiebreaker to force the match into a third set.
Zvonareva squandered three match points at 5-3, but couldn't finish the job. Erakovic made the most of her reprieve, winning another three games in a row to take the set and the match.
She now has a 2-0 head-to-head record over Zvonareva after she put away the Russian in the quarter-final of the 2008 ASB Classic.
