Serena Williams signalled her readiness for the upcoming US Open with an authoritative 6-1, 6-3 over No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova at the Bank of the West Classic Friday. Williams' semifinal opponent will be German Sabine Lisicki, who beat fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-2. Third-seeded Marion Bartoli of France advanced when Japan's Ayumi Morita retired after dropping the first set 6-1. Bartoli will meet eighth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, who beat qualifier Marina Erakovic 6-1, 6-1. Gulbis stuns del Potro In Los Angeles, Ernests Gulbis overpowered second-seeded Juan Martin del Potro to reach the semifinals of an ATP US Open tuneup Friday, booking his first semifinal since January. Gulbis pounced early and never let up in a 6-2, 6-4 victory over the 2009 US Open champion. Gulbis next faces his doubles partner, American Alex Bogomolov, who pulled off another upset with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over fourth-seeded Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci. The other semifinal has a familiar ring as teenager Ryan Harrison will get a shot at top-seeded Mardy Fish for the second straight week. Cilic in final In Croatia, Marin Cilic defeated Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-2, 6-2 Saturday to reach the final of the Croatia Open. The start of the other semifinal between Ukraine's Aleksandr Dolgopolov and Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain was delayed because of rain. All-Spanish final In Switzerland, Fernando Verdasco beat top-seeded Nicolas Almagro 6-7 (2), 7-6 (2), 6-3 Saturday to set up an all-Spanish final against Marcel Granollers at the Swiss Open. The eighth-seeded Granollers defeated Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 for his first career victory against the Russian. Peer in semis In Maryland, Israeli top seed Shahar Peer breezed into a semifinal at a $220,000 WTA hardcourt event against Austrian third seed Tamira Paszek Friday. Peer beat Italian Alberta Brianti 6-1, 6-2. Paszek battled past Canada's 117th-ranked Stephanie Dubois 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2). Saturday's other semifinal will send 102nd-ranked American Irina Falconi against the winner of a later match between Russian second seed Nadia Petrova and Serbian fifth seed Bojana Jovanovski.
