Wimbledon, England (Sports Network) - Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka reached her second straight Wimbledon semifinal, while a battle of the last two champions saw four-time titlist Serena Williams take down defending champ Petra Kvitova on Tuesday at The Championships. The second-seeded former world No. 1 Azarenka got past game Austrian Tamira Paszek 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), while the sixth-seeded Williams doused the No. 4 seed Kvitova in 6-3, 7-5 fashion under the roof on Centre Court at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. Rain forced officials to close the $80-million translucent roof on Day 8. Azarenka and Williams will square off in a marquee semifinal here on Thursday. The 22-year-old Azarenka looked sharp in the opening stanza against Paszek, who was appearing in her second straight Wimbledon quarterfinal, en route to an easy set win. But Paszek would test the Belarusian slugger in the second. Azarenka broke Paszek at love to grab a 5-4 lead in the second set, but the Austrian broke right back to even things up. The Belarusian star broke again for a 6-5 edge, but Paszek, again, broke right back to send the second set into a tiebreak. In the extra session, Paszek saved a first match point with a big backhand winner to pull within 4-6, but the Belarusian converted on her next match point when Paszek sent one final backhand long after 1 hour, 49 minutes of indoor tennis. Azarenka popped seven aces and broke Paszek three times, compared to only one break for the hard-luck loser. The Belarusian standout will now appear in her third major semifinal (1-1). Williams, meanwhile, bounced the big Czech Kvitova in 84 minutes behind by some brilliant serving. The former world No. 1 star hammered 13 aces, avoided any double faults, and allowed only one break-point chance, which Kvitova was unable to convert on Day 8. Williams smacked three aces in the final game to seal the deal. A determined Williams won the first set easily and got the key break she needed in the second to grab a 6-5 lead when the lefthanded Kvitova netted an errant forehand. In the next game, Williams converted on her first match point by unleashing an unreturnable serve. Williams bested Kvitova in a semifinal here at Wimbledon two years ago. A pleased Williams, who was forced to escape a pair of tough three-set matches in her previous two outings, was asked if she stepped up her game Tuesday. "Yeah, I had to today playing the defending champ," she said after the big win. "Im going to have to [step it up again] if Im going to win the title. Theres a lot of people vying for it still." The 30-year-old Williams owns 13 majors titles, including four in this London suburb, where shes also a two-time runner-up. The powerful American will appear in her eighth Wimbledon semifinal (6-1). Williams will meet Azarenka for a ninth time, with the American comfortably leading their lifetime series, 7-1. Williams beat Azarenka in a Wimbledon quarterfinal in 2009 and topped her on some blue clay in Madrid earlier this season. In a match that started on Court 1 but finished on Centre, third-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska held off 17th-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko 7-5, 4-6, 7-5. The two women started the day on Court 1, but because of rain delays throughout the day, they were forced indoors to finish off their quarter, which ended almost eight hours after it started. Radwanska converted on her first match point against Kirilenko when the Russian misfired wide on forehand after 2 hours, 50 minutes of court time. The Polish Radwanska tallied one more break (6-5) than Kirilenko, who fired nine aces in a losing effort. Radwanska, who owns three WTA titles this year, will now appear in her first- ever Grand Slam semifinal. She had been 0-5 in her previous major quarterfinals. The 23-year-old, who has a shot at claiming the No. 1 ranking this week, will meet eighth-seeded German Angelique Kerber in the final four. Kerber outlasted her 15th-seeded compatriot Sabine Lisicki 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 7-5, also on Centre Court. The lefthanded Kerber needed five match points to finally put away Lisicki, who ousted world No. 1 Maria Sharapova here on Monday. The 2011 Wimbledon semifinalist Lisicki saved three match points in the second set, including a second one when she safely landed an easy forehand volley to cap a super rally between the two women in the 10th game of the stanza. Lisicki went on to win that game and level the set at 5-all. Kerber lost a third match point when Lisicki ripped a backhand winner to even the second-set tiebreak at 7-7. In the deciding see-saw third set, Lisicki broke for what appeared to be a safe 5-3 lead, as Kerber sulked around the court for most of the stanza. But Kerber broke right back, then held, broke Lisicki again for a surprising 6-5 advantage, and closed out the match with an easy hold. Lisicki saved a fourth match point with a forehand winner down 5-6 in the third, but Kerber finally connected on a fifth match point when Lisicki sent one final backhand wide on tennis most-famous court. Kerber prevailed in 2 1/2 hours despite a 10-ace effort from the big-serving Lisicki. Kerber, however, broke Lisicki eight times, while the Day-8 loser settled for five breaks of serve. Lisicki struck 38 more winners (57-19), but also piled up 37 more unforced errors (50-13). The 24-year-old Kerber improved to 16-1 in three-set matches this season, with her only loss coming in a grass-court final in Eastbourne two weeks ago. Kerber will appear in her first Wimbledon and second career Grand Slam semifinal. She reached the semis at last years U.S. Open. 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But for how much longer? Bell led another solid bullpen effort, Jesus Guzman had two RBIs and rookie Luis Martinez drove in the go-ahead run, lifting San Diego to a 4-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday.LONDON -- Canadian Daniel Nestor and Belarusian partner Max Mirnyi struggled to win their opening match at the ATP World Tour Finals on Monday, defeating Swede Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau of Romania 4-6, 7-6 (1), 12-10. The match lasted one hour 36 minutes, with second-seed Nestor and Mirnyi saving a match point in the tiebreaking third set. Mirnyi closed out the victory on his teams second opportunity with a winning volley to the open court. Nestor and Mirnyi will split up at the end of the week. Nestor, the 40-year-old from Toronto, will play in 2013 with Indian Mahesh Bhupathi. "Its especially important for us to finish (the season) strong because we havent played our best in the last few months," said Nestor. "Today we came through and played well as a team something we havent done for a few months. "Hopefully that carries over to the next match." Nestor has a fearsome reputation at the year-end event, playing on the winning doubles team in four of the last five tournaments and winning the trophy a year ago with Mirnyi. Nestor, who won the French open with Mirnyi this season, came to London after earning a title in Basel with former partner Nenad Zimonjic. Nestor and Zimonjic won the London year-end event in 2008 and 2010. Nestor iimproved to 32-19 in season-wrapup events.dddddddddddd Mondays result was welcome as he and Mirnyi hit a rough patch after Wimbledon, going 4-7 after starting the season 37-9. Nestor is looking to end 2012 with his 81st career doubles trophy, trailing on the all-time list behind Mike Bryan (84), Todd Woodbridge (83) and Bob Bryan (82) as only players with 80 doubles titles in Open era. Mirnyi and Nestor lost the opening set on a break of Mirnyi for 4-5 thanks to a winning passing shot. But they got straight back into the battle to claim a tight second set in a match where they never earned a break point. From the start of the second-set tiebreak, Nestor and Mirnyi won 11 of 12 points to go up 4-0 in the third set. They lost the next five games before powering through for the opening win of the round-robin event which ends next Monday. "All credit to our opponents, they were playing great," said Nestor. "They didnt give us many chances on their serve. They were the better team for about a set and three quarters. "We were just trying to hang on in the second. We did a good job of that. Then the match slowly started to shift. We created a few more opportunities. I thought they still played pretty well. We just raised our level." cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys cheapjerseyswholesale wholesale jerseys ' ' '