Fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka beat Tamira Paszek 6-3, 6-1 on Tuesday at Wimbledon to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.
The match began on Court 1 but play was suspended after one game because of the damp conditions. They completed the match under the roof on Centre Court.
Azarenka, the highest-ranked player left in the quarterfinals, raced into a 5-1 lead in the first set and broke for a third time for the set when the unseeded Paszek netted a forehand.
The Belarusian broke serve twice more to come through the second set and set up a semifinal against eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova, who ousted Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2.
“Looking at the rankings, everybody says, ‘You should have been already in the semifinals,’” Azarenka said. “It was a great win for me.”
“I’m glad we managed to play today,” said Azarenka, whose highlight was a full-sprint forehand that curled around the net post and landed in for a winner. “Thank God for the roof again. It’s just amazing.”
