Serena in Stanford semis

Serena Williams fought off fatigue to post a 6-4, 6-0 win over Chanelle Scheepers Friday to reach the semi-finals of the WTA hardcourt tournament in Stanford. Williams, the top seed and defending champion, won a 43-minute first set punctuated by five breaks of serve against her sixth-seeded South African opponent. Yanina Wickmayer pounced on nine double-faults from Marion Bartoli to knock the French second seed out in their quarter-final. Belgium’s Wickmayer, seeded fifth, ousted Bartoli 6-3, 6-2 to advance to a final-four clash with American Coco Vandeweghe. Vandeweghe reached the first WTA-level semi-final of her career with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Poland’s Urszula Radwanska. Bartoli, the 2009 champion and runner-up to Williams last year, was plagued by errors in a match lasting just under 90 minutes. She double-faulted twice in what proved to be the final game when she lost serve for the fourth time. It was world number 37 Wickmayer’s first win over the 2007 Wimbledon finalist and world number 10 in four meetings. Isner advances Defending champion John Isner hammered 12 aces to defeat Izak van der Merwe 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) and reach the semi-finals of the ATP Tour’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships on Friday. Top seeded Isner will square off against fellow American Ryan Harrison who was leading 6-4, 3-0 in his quarter-final when Benjamin Becker, of Germany, retired with an injury. Isner, who beat Belgian Olivier Rochus in last year’s final, won 85 percent of his first-serve points against the South African qualifier on the grass courts. German Becker retired from his match after 57 minutes with a left hamstring injury. Hewitt is a two-time major championship winner and Ram won this event three years ago. Tipsarevic moves up Top seed Janko Tipsarevic and second seeded Juan Monaco reached the Stuttgart claycourt semi-finals on Friday with the top-ranked Serb surviving a gruelling quarter-final against German Bjorn Phau. Tipsarevic saved four match points as he claimed a 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 victory in just under three hours. “I’m a little bit lucky that I managed to win the second set and save four match points,” admitted Tipsarevic. Tipsarevic will face Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci. From gulftoday