Serena through to semis; Bartoli, Cibulkova upset

STANFORD, California: Serena Williams has still not kicked post Wimbledon jet lag, but she still managed to beat Chanelle Scheepers 6-4, 6-0 in the quarterfinals of the Stanford Classic on Friday night.
Second seed Mario Bartoli and third seed Dominika Cibulkova, however, did not fare as well with France’s Bartoli beaten by Yanina Wickmayer 6-3, 6-2, while Romania’s Sorana Cirstea beat Slovakia’s Cibulkova 6-7, 6-2, 6-0.
In her victory over the South African, Williams felt sluggish but she woke up toward the end of the first set.
“I didn’t feel great going out, but I expected to stay consistent till I started to feel better and then I started moving well and that really helped a lot,” Williams said.
Wickmayer went into her match against Bartoli with an 0-3 record but out hit the world number 10 from inside the baseline to reach her second semifinal of the year.
“I tried not to give her too many angles and really wanted to go for my shots only when I had the chance,” the fifth-seeded Belgian said.
“In our other matches, I think she really just beat me at my own game. Today, I think I was playing smarter.” The 22-year-old Cirstea was routed by Cibulkova earlier this season, but stayed mentally strong despite a bizarre first set when she won six out of her nine challenges.
“Toward the end of the set I was challenging everything because I didn’t trust anyone anymore,” said Cirstea, who served 15 aces.
“I thought someone was playing a joke on me to see how I would react. It was like Candid Camera because there were too many mistakes, I started to laugh because it was just hilarious.
“The chair umpire never ruled and today if we didn’t have a challenge system I would be packing my bags.” Cirstea will face American 20-year-old Coco Vandeweghe, who bested Urszula Radwanska 6-4, 6-4 and reached her first WTA semifinal.
Isner, Harrison in semis
In Newport, Rhode Island, Americans John Isner and Ryan Harrison will face off in the semifinals at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
Isner, the top seed and defending champion, beat South Africa’s Izak Van Der Merwe 6-4, 7-6 (2) on Friday night. Sixth-seeded Harrison was ahead 6-4, 3-0 when Germany’s Benjamin Becker retired with an injury.
Lleyton Hewitt of Australia and 2009 Newport champion Rajeev Ram will meet in the other semifinal. Isner is looking to become the first consecutive champion on Newport’s grass courts since Greg Rusedski in 2004-05.
Yesterday’s match on center court will follow induction ceremonies, with Jennifer Capriati and Gustavo Kuerten headlining the 2012 class.
Isner broke in the third game of the first set, going up 3-1, and closed out the final game of the set at love. In the second set, Isner trailed 5-6 and was in danger of being broken in the 12th game. He trailed love-30, but came back with a hard serve down the middle for an ace. He closed the game by winning four of the final five points.
Isner then broke on the first point of the tiebreak. His 12th and final ace of the match gave him a 5-2 edge.
Ferrer in final
In Bastad, Sweden, Spanish tennis star David Ferrer won his 50th match of the season here on Saturday beating highly-rated Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 7-5 in the semifinals of the ATP event.
Ferrer, 30 and a semifinalist at the French Open and a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon, will play compatriot Nicolas Almagro in today’s final as he bids to win his fifth title of the season.
Ferrer, who has won 15 of the 30 ATP finals he has contested, has beaten second seed Almagro in all 10 meetings they have had.
Almagro had a far easier time in his semi-final beating unseeded Czech Jan Hajek 6-4, 6-3.