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Serena strolls into semifinals

Serena’s first tournament since Wimbledon
Blake to meet Tursunov in semifinals

Stanford (U.S.): Serena Williams, still trying to put the sting of her Wimbledon final defeat behind her, reached the semifinals of the 600,000-dollar WTA hardcourt tournament here on Friday.

The top-seeded American, playing in Stanford for the first time, punched her ticket to the final four with a 6-3, 6-1 quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder.

The tournament is Williams’s first since falling in the Wimbledon final to elder sister Venus earlier his month.

Although she hasn’t won a Grand Slam title since the 2007 Australian Open, Serena has put together an impressive season with three championships and a 33-4 record.

The 26-year-old has reached the quarterfinals or better at eight of nine events she has entered, with her only defeat before the round of eight coming against Katarina Srebotnik in the third round of the French Open.

While Williams is new to the tournament, Schnyder boasts a runner-up finish in 2006, a semifinal appearance in 2005 and quarterfinal spots in 2004 and last year.

Blake advances

At Indianapolis, top-seeded James Blake beat unseeded Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan 6-2, 6-0 in the quarterfinals on Friday, moving one step closer to his second Indianapolis Championships title in three years.

Blake, ranked eighth in the world, advanced to play defending champion Dmitry Tursunov of Russia. Blake, upset in the quarterfinals last year, beat Andy Roddick in the 2006 final.

No. 4 Sam Querrey will play No. 2 Gilles Simon of France in the other semifinal.

All four top seeds advanced to the semifinals for the first time since the tournament moved to a hard-court surface in 1988.

“That’s strange these days in tennis — top seeds get upset all the time,” Blake said.

No. 3-seeded Tursunov overcame Paul Capdeville of Chile 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 to reach his first semifinals since he won his fourth career title in January at Sydney.

Querrey advanced with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over fellow American Bobby Reynolds.

The results: At Indianapolis: ATP Indianapolis Championships: Quarterfinals: Gilles Simon bt Tommy Haas 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; Sam Querrey bt Bobby Reynolds 6-1, 3-6, 6-3; James Blake bt Lu Yen-Hsun 6-2, 6-0; Dmitry Tursunov bt Paul Capdeville 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

At Kitzbuhel: ATP Austria Open: Semifinals: Jurgen Melzer bt Potito Starace 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-3. Quarterfinals: Potito Starace bt Eduardo Schwank 6-1, 6-2; Juergen Melzer bt Rainer Schuettler 2-6, 7-5, 7-5; Juan Martin Del Potro bt Nicolas Devilder 6-2, 6-3; Victor Hanescu bt Brian Dabul 6-3, 6-4.

At Amersfoort: ATP Dutch Open: Quarterfinals: Oscar Hernandez bt Marcel Granollers 7-5, 6-2; Albert Montanes bt Jose Acasuso 6-0, 6-2; Marc Gicquel bt Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 6-1; Steve Darcis bt Christophe Rochus 7-5, 6-3.

At Umag: ATP Croatia Open: Quarterfinals: Fernando Verdasco bt Mischa Zverev 7-5, 7-5; Igor Andreev bt Guillermo Canas 7-5, 6-4; Maximo Gonzalez bt Roko Karanusic 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(4); Fabio Fognini bt Carlos Moya 6-4, 6-3.

At Stanford: WTA Bank of the West Classic: Quarterfinals: Serena Williams bt Patty Schnyder 6-3, 6-1; Marion Bartoli bt Anna Chakvetadze 6-3, 6-4; Ai Sugiyama bt Dominika Cibulkova 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 5-3 (retd.); Aleksandra Wozniak bt Samantha Stosur 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.

At Bad Gastein: WTA Gastein Ladies: Second Round: Agnes Szavay bt Melanie Klaffner 3-6, 7-6(8), 7-6(3); Mariya Koryttseva bt Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5); Pauline Parmentier bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld 7-5, 4-6, 6-4; Lucie Hradecka bt Timea Bacsinszky 6-1, 6-4; Iveta Benesova bt Galina Voskoboeva 6-4, 4-6, 6-1; Yvonne Meusburger bt Maret Ani 6-2, 2-6, 6-3; Tereza Hladikova bt Karolina Sprem 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. — Agencies

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