Serena back in semifinals
<p>Serena Williams of the United States plays a return to Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic during a quarterfinals match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, England, Tuesday, July 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)</p>
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) - Thanks to a bit of advice from her big sister and a bunch of aces from her big serve, Serena Williams is back in the Wimbledon semifinals.
With two more victories, Williams will be holding a Grand Slam trophy for the first time in two years.
The thud of racket-against-ball reverberating under the closed Centre Court roof, Williams smacked 13 aces at up to 120 mph and overpowered defending champion Petra Kvitova 6-3, 7-5 in the quarterfinals Tuesday at the All England Club.
Beforehand, Williams' father and coach, Richard, asked his other title-winning daughter to relay some suggestions.
"I went and had Venus talk to her, because Venus can get (through) to Serena better than anyone in the world. So I told Venus, 'I'm not going to talk to her. You talk to her.' So Venus went and talked to her. When the match was over, I told her, 'Venus: Good coaching! Good coaching!'" Dad said after snapping photos of Serena's victory from his front-row perch in the guest box above a scoreboard.
On Thursday, Williams will play No. 2 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, the reigning Australian Open champion, who defeated unseeded Tamira Paszek 6-3, 7-6 (4) under the roof at night to reach the Wimbledon semifinals for the second straight year. The other semifinal will be No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland against No. 8 Angelique Kerber of Germany.
A little before 10 p.m. on Centre Court, Radwanska finished her 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 victory over No. 17 Maria Kirilenko — whose boyfriend, two-time NHL MVP Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, was in the stands. Earlier, the match was forced off Court 1 because of showers, tied 4-all in the third set.
Kerber was a 6-3, 6-7 (7), 7-5 winner over No. 15 Sabine Lisicki in an all-German matchup. Lisicki saved three match points in the second set, but then let a 5-3 lead slip away in the third against Kerber, also a semifinalist at last year’s U.S. Open.
With more rain in the forecast, the roof could be shut again today, when the men’s quarterfinals are No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 31 Florian Mayer, No. 3 Roger Federer vs. Mikhail Youzhny, No. 4 Andy Murray vs. No. 7 David Ferrer, and No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. No. 27 Philipp Kohlschreiber.
While defending champion Djokovic, six-time champion Federer and Youzhny got a chance to rest Tuesday — particularly important for Federer, whose back ached during his fourth-round victory — everyone else slogged through a start-stop-start-stop afternoon of rain delays with the temperature in the low 60s.
The last two American men in the draw were beaten: 10th-seeded Mardy Fish wasted the one-set lead he built before play was suspended Monday and lost to Tsonga 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-4, and 126th-ranked qualifier Brian Baker’s surprising run ended against Kohlschreiber 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-3.
“I went to bed last night, and I thought I could maybe win the tournament, the way I was playing,” said Fish, who hadn’t played a match in 2½ months before Wimbledon because of an accelerated heartbeat.
Murray eliminated No. 16 Marin Cilic 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 to prolong Britain’s hopes for its first male champion at Wimbledon since 1936; Ferrer easily got past No. 9 Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 to earn his debut trip to the quarterfinals at the All England Club; Mayer defeated No. 18 Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 to return to the round of eight for the first time since 2004.