Eastbourne, England (Sports Network) - Reigning champion Marion Bartoli
and rising German star Angelique Kerber eased into the semifinals
at the Aegon International tennis event, a final Wimbledon tune-up.
The fourth-seeded Bartoli continued her winning ways at this tournament by
smacking eight aces in a 6-4, 6-2 victory over seventh-seeded Czech Lucie
Safarova, while a fifth-seeded Kerber handled former Eastbourne champ
Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-4 in 59 minutes at Devonshire Park.
Makarova titled here two years ago.
The 2007 Wimbledon runner-up Bartoli beat reigning Wimbledon champion Petra
Kvitova in last year's Eastbourne finale.
The French Bartoli will meet capable Austrian Tamira Paszek on Friday. Paszek
took down Bulgarian grass-courter Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-0, 6-4. Pironkova was
a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2010 and quarterfinalist last year.
One other quarterfinal saw Czech veteran Klara Zakopalova dismiss Russian
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-3, 7-5. Zakopalova and Kerber will clash in
Friday's other semi.
The winner of this $637,000 event will collect $107,000.
The Sports Network