Monica Puig became the first qualifier to reach the Eastbourne International semifinals in three years though it took her nearly three hours to get there Thursday. Puig, a Puerto Rican, needed 2 hours, 43 minutes to overcome Kristina Mladenovic of France 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3, and become the first qualifier in the semis since American Jamie Hampton in 2013. Both players struggled to hold serve, with Puig facing 23 break points in the match and Mladenovic 13. Mladenovic broke three times in the opening set and led 5-4, but each time allowed her opponent to break back in the following game before failing to convert a set point in the tiebreaker. In the second set, Mladenovic also failed to win three set points at 5-2 and to serve out the set at 5-3 before breaking in the 10th game. In the final set, Puig broke in the first and final games to secure victory. "We were both putting so much pressure on each other's serves," Puig said. "So it was just staying mentally tough." Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic and 2010 champion Ekaterina Makarova of Russia won third-round matches that had been suspended overnight. Pliskova defeated Misaki Doi of Japan 6-2, 6-4, and Makarova rallied to overcome Andrea Petkovic of Germany 3-6, 6-4, 6-0. Muller, Cuevas advance In Nottingham, Gilles Muller of Luxembourg reached his second semifinal on grass in three weeks at the Nottingham Open Thursday. Muller, serving superbly, aced Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 14 times in a 6-3, 6-4 win. He lost only three points off his first serve. In the short grass season, he has been runner-up in the Netherlands, and a quarterfinalist at Queen's last week. He's into the Nottingham semifinals for the third time. The eighth-seeded Muller will play second-seeded Pablo Cuevas, who was into his first ATP semifinal on grass. The Argentine came to Nottingham with two career wins on grass and has won three in a row this week. Cuevas saved a match point and beat Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus only on his fifth match point to prevail 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (8). Cuevas saved a match point serving at 4-5 in the third set. In the tiebreaker, Baghdatis led 4-0, Cuevas pulled ahead 6-4, and couldn't finish it off until it was 9-8. Azarenka out of Wimbledon Victoria Azarenka will miss Wimbledon with a knee injury which flared up at the French Open, organizers announced Thursday. "Victoria Azarenka has withdrawn from #Wimbledon due to a knee injury. Get well soon, @vika7" Wimbledon posted on twitter. The two-time Australian Open champion and former world No. 1 had to retire from her opening round tie against Karin Knapp at Roland Garros with the problem. The 26-year-old from Belarus, Australian Open champion in 2012 and 2013, was seeded sixth at the All England Club with the third Grand Slam of the year starting Monday. It is the second time that Azarenka, a two-time Wimbledon semifinalist, has been forced to withdraw from the grass-court tournament. She suffered a right knee injury in Wimbledon in 2013 after an awkward fall in the first round and withdrew before the second round of the tournament in which she was seeded second. The injury has also cast a shadow over her Olympic bid with the Rio Games just six weeks away in August. Azarenka won bronze in the women's singles and gold in the mixed doubles at the London 2012 Olympics.
