ISTANBUL — Li Na kept alive her hopes of reaching the semifinals of the WTA Championships with a resilient and polished performance in a straight sets win over Angelique Kerber Thursday. The former French Open champion from China's 6-4, 6-3 win over the hard-working German may have also had something to do with the energy Kerber expended while earning match points in a massive three-hour effort against world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka the night before. Kerber nevertheless started well, breaking serve almost at once and holding her lead until 4-2. But once Li had broken back for 4-4 she was more nimble of step, more flat-hitting of ground stroke, and eventually more motivated for success too. By the end of the first set Kerber was becoming wayward with her serve and looking discouraged, which prompted some very intense in-your-face exhortations from coach Torben Beltz. On Wednesday, Victoria Azarenka had to draw on all her reserves by saving two match points in a heroic three-hour six-minute tussle with Kerber. The top-seeded Belarussian beat the German revelation 6-7 (11-13), 7-6 (7-2), 6-4. Her win leaves Azarenka needing just one more win to guarantee her finishing the year as world No. 1. Maria Sharapova later made sure of a place in Saturday's semifinals by beating Agnieszka Radwanska 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 in another three-hour encounter. Azarenka's three-set encounter also guaranteed that Serena Williams' second success of the tournament earned the American a semifinal place. Nadal pulls out World tennis No. 4 Rafa Nadal has pulled out of the Paris Masters and the ATP World Tour Finals in London as he is still recovering from his left knee injury, the ATP said Thursday. With the Spaniard unable to play in the London Finals, which will reunite the year's eight best players from Nov. 5 to 12, the player ranked ninth in the world will get a berth. Serbian Janko Tipsarevic currently occupies the spot. Paire to meet Federer In Switzerland, France's Benoit Paire defeated Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot 6-4, 6-4 Thursday to set up a dream quarterfinal against Roger Federer at the Swiss Indoors. In another second-round match, Russian sixth seed Mikhail Youzhny hammered Australian Matthew Ebden 6-3, 6-1, winning in less than an hour. Federer was pushed hard before beating Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-5 to advance to the quarterfinals Wednesday. Also advancing was third-seeded Richard Gasquet of France who beat Federer's boyhood friend Marco Chiudinelli 6-1, 6-4. Raoni crashes out In Valencia, Milos Raonic was knocked out of the Valencia Open Wednesday, denting his chances of clinching the remaining berths at next month's World Tour Finals in London. Eighth-seeded Canadian Raonic lost his first-round match against Luxembourg's Gilles Muller 7-5, 7-6. Seventh seed Marin Cilic of Croatia improved his chances of a spot in London when he cruised past unseeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-1, 6-4 in the second round. Cilic will play Ivan Dodig in the last eight after the Croatian qualifier beat Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, a wild card at the indoor hard court event, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. — Agencies
