The semifinals of the Bank of the West Classic 2012 tennis tournament were set up yesterday.
Coco Vandeweghe, Serena Williams, Sorana Cirstea and Yanina Wickmayer were the 4 players who advanced.
Vandeweghe beat Urszula Radwanska 64 64 and made it into her first semifinal on the WTA Tour.
"I was pretty mad about losing in the last round in qualifying," Vandeweghe said, who got in as a lucky loser. "I had the match on my racquet and didn't play well on that day - of course you can't play well every day. But I seem to be doing a pretty good job of picking myself back up and putting a lot of good matches together these days.
"I've been putting a lot of hard work in, on and off the court, and I knew it would translate into my matches sometime. And I'm glad it's here in Stanford."
Vandeweghe is having a great week in Stanford where she also upset Jelena Jankovic, a very special win for her.
"I was definitely happy to finally beat Jelena. A memory I definitely keep is when I was 16, my first match on Arthur Ashe Stadium, opening night, she was No.1 in the world, it was just a huge experience. I remember the first serve I hit I aced her out wide and I was totally aiming up the T. I was thinking, 'I have no idea where this serve's going.' I was just so nervous. So to beat her two nights ago, I was so happy about that."
Vandeweghe will play Wickmayer, who upset Marion Bartoli 63 62.
"It wasn't easy - I played some of my best tennis to beat her," Wickmayer said. "I'm very happy to be back on my favorite surface. I like grass a lot, but clay is not my favorite surface. I'm really happy to be back on the fast surfaces. I'm going to lose some and I'm going to win some, but I like this time of the year."
"When she's confident and feeling good, she can play some amazing tennis," Wickmayer said of Vandeweghe. "I haven't seen her play here this week, but looking at the scores and looking at the people she has been beating here, it looks like she's playing really well. I need to be prepared and focused."
Cirstea also produced an upset on Friday after beating Dominika Cibulkova, 67(5) 62 60.
Sorana 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.
"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."
She will play Williams, who scored a 64 60 victory over Chanelle Scheepers.
She woke up at 1 a.m. 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 quarterfinal encounter, Serena 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.
About facing Cirstea, the American said: "I think it's going to be a good match," Williams said. "She has a good serve, which is why I love her game."
Source WTA/ AP/Yahoo
Photo by Getty Images
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