BRISBANE — Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova are set to renew their long and not-so-friendly rivalry in the semifinals at the Brisbane International, a key warm-up tournament for the Australian Open. The pair played back-to-back quarterfinals on center court Thursday, with the third-seeded Sharapova beating 2012 Brisbane champion Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. She dropped three service games in the first set and another to open the second before finding her range and staging her comeback against the No. 30-ranked Kanepi. The top-ranked Serena, the defending champion, was next on court and didn't lose a point on serve in the first set en route to a 6-3, 6-3 win over ninth-seeded Diminika Cibulkova of Slovakia. As far as any grudges go, Serena said Thursday: “It's very difficult I think for anyone to be best buddies when you're so competitive.” Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka had difficulty closing out her quarterfinal match before beating Stefanie Voegele 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-1. Azarenka will next face fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic, who beat fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-1. In men's second-round matches, Romanian qualifier Marius Copil beat third-seeded Gilles Simon 7-5, 6-3 and will next meet former No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt, who ousted No. 6-seeded Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-3. No. 8-seeded Jeremy Chardy beat Nicolas Mahut 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-3 and fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson withdrew due to a stomach ailment before his scheduled second-round match against Australian wildcard entry Sam Groth. In other Australasian tournaments, Milos Raonic and Eugenie Bouchard combined to give Canada a 3-0 win over Italy at the Hopman Cup in Perth, and Venus Williams and Ana Ivanovic progressed to the semifinals at the WTA Tour's ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. Canada (2-1) maintained a chance of qualifying for Saturday's Hopman Cup final from Group A when Raonic beat Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-4 and Bouchard clinched it when Flavia Pennetta retired with a right wrist injury while trailing 4-0 in the first set. In Auckland, Venus Williams beat Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-3, 6-3 and the second-seeded Ivanovic beat Kurumi Nara of Japan 6-2, 6-3. Ivanovic will play her doubles partner, third-seeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, in Friday's semifinals while Venus will play Jamie Hampton. Flipkens beat Japanese qualifier Sachie Ishizu 6-4, 7-5 and the fifth-seeded Hampton beat Lauren Davis 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Li advances at Shenzhen Chinese superstar Li Na battled her way to yet another victory Thursday, downing Romania's Monica Niculescu after three action-filled sets in the women's singles quarterfinal of the Shenzhen Open. Li, Asia's highest-ranking player in tennis history, opened strongly, besting Niculescu 7-5 in the first set. The 26-year-old Romanian fought back with a 6-4 win in the second set, before Li toppled her with a third-set, 6-4 victory. China notched another victory Thursday as fifth-seed Peng Shuai soared to victory over Slovakia's Jana Cepelova 6-3, 6-2. American Vania King bested Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-2 6-4, while eight-seed Annika Beck of Germany came back from an initial 3-6 loss to triumph over Austria's Patricia Mayr-Achleitner in the final two sets, 6-3 6-1. — Agencies
