Serena through to Stanford semis; Bartoli, Cibulkova upset
Serena through to Stanford semis; Bartoli, Cibulkova upset
Serena Williams has still not kicked post Wimbledon jet
lag, but she still managed to beat Chanelle Scheepers 6-4 6-0 in the
quarter-finals of the Stanford Classic on Friday.
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.
Williams, who won her fifth Wimbledon singles title
last week, arrived in Northern California on Monday and had been unable
to get a good's night sleep.
She woke up at 1 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Friday and stayed
awake for five hours watching the final season of the television show
Desperate Housewives.
"I was hoping to fall back asleep but I didn't," Williams said. "I was crying as always. I love that show. I was wide
wake as if I was in Europe still."
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 semi-final 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."
