NEWPORT, Rhode Island – Lleyton Hewitt of Australia defeated Dudi Sela of Israel 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the semifinals at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships Thursday. Hewitt will play for Australia in the London Olympics at the All England Club in a few weeks. Wild card Ryan Harrison beat fellow American Jesse Levine 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals, while German Benjamin Becker ousted Canadian Milos Raonic 6-3, 6-3. In the other quarterfinal, second-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan was upset by American Rajeev Ram, the 2009 Newport champion, 7-6 (6), 6-3. Ram will face Hewitt Saturday after the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.
Bartoli in fine form Second-seeded Marion Bartoli won the last 11 games to surge past unranked US university player Mallory Burdette 7-5, 6-0 Thursday in the second round of the WTA hard-court tournament in Stanford. Bartoli next faces fifth-seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in the quarterfinals, when top-seeded Williams will take on sixth-seeded Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa. Third seed Dominika Cibulkova beat Japanese qualifier Erika Sema 6-1, 6-3 while unseeded Urszula Radwanska, sister of Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska, survived a second-set wobble to defeat eighth-seeded New Zealander Marina Erakovic 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Romanian Sorana Cirstea reached her fourth quarter-final of 2012 with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over China's Zheng Saisai, advancing to a clash with Cibulkova.
Verdasco, Cilic through Fernando Verdasco of Spain and Marin Cilic of Croatia cruised into the semifinals of the Croatia Open in Umag Friday. Top-seeded Verdasco defeated Russian wild card Andrey Kuznetsov 6-2, 6-2, while second-seeded Cilic beat American Wayne Odesnik 6-4, 6-0. Verdasco saved all six break points he faced and converted three of seven break chances. “Obviously, I am very happy with the way I progress here,” Verdasco said. “Being in the semifinals is a very good thing. I played really good today.”
Tipsarevic, Monaco in semis Top seed Janko Tipsarevic and second seeded Juan Monaco reached the Stuttgart claycourt semifinals 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. The 28-year-old Tipsarevic will face Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci, who defeated Germany's Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 6-4, 6-1, in the semi-finals. Monaco eased past Slovakian qualifier Pavol Cernevak 6-1, 7-5. Monaco, the world number 14 from Argentina, will next meet Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who thumped German wildcard Dustin Brown 6-0, 6-3.
Ferrer, Dimitrov in last 4 Top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain ousted his countryman Tommy Robredo 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 Friday to reach the semifinals of the Swedish Open in Bastad. Ferrer, the 2007 winner and runner-up last year, will meet sixth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria who also advanced after beating third-seeded Albert Ramos of Spain, the 2008 winner, 7-6 (1), 6-3. Second-seeded Nicolas Almagro beat fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3. The 2010 winner will play Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic, who beat Jurgen Zopp of Estonia 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. — Agencies
