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2B Daily News– Wednesday, July 4, 2012 WIMBLEDON TOUR DE FRANCE Sagan wins 3rd stage as tour returns MCTphoto Serena WIlliams beat defending champion Petra Kvitova and will face the world's No. 2 player Thursday. Serena KO's defending champ WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Thanks to a bit of advice from her big sister and a bunch of aces from her big serve, Serena Williams is back in the Wimble- don semifinals. With two more victories, Williams will be holding a Grand Slam trophy for the first time in two years. ball reverberating under the closed Centre Court roof, Williams smacked 13 aces at up to 120 mph and overpowered defending champion Petra Kvito- va 6-3, 7-5 in the quarterfinals Tuesday at the All England Club. Beforehand, Williams' father and coach, Richard, asked his other title-winning daughter to relay some suggestions. ''I went and had Venus talk to her, because Venus can get (through) to Serena better than anyone in the world. So I told Venus, 'I'm not going to talk to her. You talk to her.' So Venus went and talked to her. When the match was over, I told her, 'Venus: Good coaching! Good coaching!''' Dad said after snap- ping photos of Serena's victory from his front-row perch in the guest box above a scoreboard. ''I wanted Serena to move her feet a little bit more and to not concentrate on what the girl's doing, but concentrate exactly on what she wished to do,'' he con- tinued. ''And that was the only message.'' The thud of racket-against- After being stretched to 9-7 and 7-5 third sets against less- accomplished women in the two previous rounds, the No. 6-seed- ed Williams was on top of things from the get-go against No. 4 Kvitova. ''You can't play a defending for the second straight year. The other semifinal will be No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland against No. 8 Angelique Kerber of Germany. Wimbledon champion or Grand Slam champion and not elevate your game,'' said Williams, who produced 27 winners and only 10 unforced errors. ''I had to weed out the riffraff and just get seri- ous.'' Kvitova had won 16 of her last 17 matches at Wimbledon, including 11 in a row since a loss to Williams in the 2010 semifi- nals. Two days later, Williams went on to win the championship — her fourth at Wimbledon, her 13th at a Grand Slam tournament and her most recent to date. Within a week, Williams cut her feet on glass at a restaurant, leading to a series of health problems, including being hospi- talized for clots in her lungs, then the removal of a pocket of blood under the skin on her stomach. ''No one tries to have ups and A little before 10 p.m. on Cen- tre Court, Radwanska finished her 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 victory over No. 17 Maria Kirilenko — whose boyfriend, two-time NHL MVP Alex Ovechkin of the Washing- ton Capitals, was in the stands. Earlier, the match was forced off Court 1 because of showers, tied 4-all in the third set. ''Today was for me, like, 40 hours,'' Radwanska said after reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal. ''I was on and off all the time, waiting pretty much all day.'' Kerber was a 6-3, 6-7 (7), 7-5 BOULOGNE-SUR- MER, France (AP) — Pumping his arms in victory, Peter Sagan of Slovakia won the crash-marred third stage of the Tour de France on Tuesday as cycling's show- case race returned to its home country. Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland remained the overall leader for a fourth straight day. The cyclists, who opened in Belgium, completed a 122-mile ride from Orchies that featured five small climbs to an uphill finish in the fishing port of Boulogne-sur-Mer. cycling's brightest stars, won his second stage in his debut Tour by bolting from the splintered pack with less than 300 meters left. He crossed the line several lengths — and one second — ahead of runner-up Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway and third-place fin- isher Peter Velits of Slova- kia. Sagan, at 22 one of Consider it delivered. The 30-year-old Williams, bidding to become the first woman at least that age to win a major title since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 1990, turned in her best perfor- mance of the tournament against her most difficult opponent. ROOKS (Continued from 1B) Barnes has idolized Michael Jordan since he was a kid. His mother, Shirley, even gave him the middle name Jordan in honor of the Hall of Famer. He took finance and busi- ness classes at North Car- olina, and had talks with Jordan that had as much to do with basketball as they did Jordan's brand. For now, Barnes' busi- ness is all basketball — even pointing to the wall on Golden State's practice floor that shows the team's last All-Star was Latrell Sprewell in 1997. Ever since he had to switch his lawn-mowing service into shoveling snow for $20 as a kid in Ames, Iowa, Barnes realized wins on the basket- ball court make building an audience easier. ''You have to know about marketing,'' Barnes said. ''You're going to be grossing a lot of money in this business and you have to know how to take care of downs. Some things happen sometimes, and you have absolutely no control over it,'' said Williams, whose only first- round loss in 48 Grand Slam tournaments came at the French Open in late May. ''So I think it's how you recover from that, and how you handle the downs even more than the ups can real- ly (reveal your) character.'' On Thursday, Williams will play No. 2 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, the reigning Australian Open champion, who defeated unseeded Tamira Paszek 6-3, 7-6 (4) under the roof at night to reach the Wimbledon semifinals it. I went to school to learn about the business. How to protect your money, how to save it. If you're going to invest it, where to invest it. But right now the only thing that's important is winning.'' bunch also has taken the longest route. The biggest of the The 6-foot-11, 255- pound Ezeli moved in 2004 from Nigeria to Sacramento, Calif. — only a 90-minute drive north- east from Oakland — and was cut by his high school during tryouts. His uncle, Emeka Ndu- lue, a pediatrician charged with helping Ezeli's med- ical school aspirations, originally pushed Ezeli into basketball as a side hobby. Ezeli ended up a video coordinator for a junior college until he was eligible to play, struggling for years to learn the basics of basketball after growing up with soccer and show- ing more of an interest in medicine. tered even more during five years at Vanderbilt. By Ezeli's game was fos- winner over No. 15 Sabine Lisic- ki in an all-German matchup. Lisicki saved three match points in the second set, but then let a 5- 3 lead slip away in the third against Kerber, also a semifinal- ist at last year's U.S. Open. Williams owns, by far, the best resume of any woman in action Tuesday. She was participating in her 33rd major quarterfinal; the other seven players have been in a total of 29. expects Williams to win the title. Asked how difficult it is for Not surprisingly, Kvitova anyone to beat Williams when she plays the way she did Satur- day, the Czech replied: ''It is big difficult.'' She's human,'' Kvitova said. Both played impressive grass- court tennis, hitting powerfully, serving well and returning dan- gerously. Williams simply was superior doing all of it. the time he left Nashville, he had 204 blocked shots, breaking the mark of 157 set by Will Perdue. Golden State chose him with the 30th and final pick of the first round. ''It was very frustrating for me and for coaches many times to teach basic concepts you should already know,'' he said. ''I really was just that raw. It's been a nice little journey.'' Warriors drafted has been overlooked more than Green. Perhaps nobody the The 6-foot-7, 230- pound forward was the Big WNBA WESTERN CONFERENCE WL Pct GB Minnesota 13 2 .867 — Los Angeles10 6 .625 3.5 San Antonio 7 5 .583 4.5 Seattle 7 8 .467 6 Phoenix 4 10 .286 8.5 Tulsa EASTERN CONFERENCE WL Pct GB Connecticut 10 4 .714 — Chicago 8 5 .615 1.5 Indiana 8 5 .615 1.5 Atlanta 7 8 .467 3.5 New York 5 9 .357 5 Washington 3 10 .231 6.5 ------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday's result Phoenix at San Antonio, late Thursday's games Minnesota at Los Angeles, Noon San Antonio at Indiana, 4 p.m. 2 12 .143 10.5 Impossible? ''I can't say 'impossible.' Ten Player of the Year and first-team All-American. He finished with the most rebounds (1,096) and sec- ond-most blocks (117) in Spartans history, and became the leader in coach Tom Izzo's system that always seems to make those magical March runs. WIMBLEDON A look at Wimbledon on Tuesday: Weather: Rain. High of 64 degrees. Men's Fourth-Round Matches No. 4 Andy Murray beat No. 16 Marin Cilic 7- 5, 6-2, 6-3 No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat No. 10 Mardy Fish 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-4 No.7 David Ferrer beat No.9 Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 No. 27 Philipp Kohlschreiber beat qualifier Brian Baker 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-3 No. 31 Florian Mayer beat No. 18 Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. Women's quarterfinal matches No. 2 Victoria Azarenka beat Tamira Paszek 6-3, 7-6 (4) No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska beat No. 17 Maria Kirilenko 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 No.6 Serena Williams beat No.4 Petra Kvito- va 6-3, 7-5; No. 8 Angelique Kerber beat No. 15 Sabine Lisicki 6-3, 6-7 (7), 7-5. Stat of the day 57, 50 — Winners, unforced errors for Lisicki in her loss to Kerber, who had 19 winners and 13 unforced errors. Quote of the day ''I had to weed out the riffraff and just get seri- ous.''— Williams, who was pushed to 9-7 and 7-5 third sets in her two previous matches but outplayed defending champion Kvitova. On court today No.1 Novak Djokovic vs.No.31 Florian Mayer No. 3 Roger Federer vs. Mikhail Youzhny No. 4 Andy Murray vs.No.7 David Ferrer No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. No. 27 Philipp Kohlschreiber in the men's quarterfinals. Wednesday's Forecast: Rain. High of 68 degrees. show for fans. He churned his arms, as a runner might, in a nod to the title character in the movie ''Forrest Gump.'' ''It's a thing I'd discussed with my teammates about what kind of gesture I'd do on the line,'' said Sagan, who rides for Liquigas-Can- nondale. ''Everybody said, 'Do a Forrest Gump' because when he was told to run, he ran. And when I'm told to win, I win.'' Sagan also showed a humbler side, saying he felt honored to ride alongside the likes of Vincenzo Nibali and two-time Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso on the Italian squad. ''With Basso, I feel like I'm on the level of someone who would shine his shoes,'' Sagan said. With Sagan's Stage 1 victory Sunday he became the youngest rider to win a Tour stage since Lance Armstrong in 1993 at 21. ''You've got to give Sagan credit for the way he's riding at the minute. When you see something like that you just have to stand back and admire it, and smile and say well done,'' Team Sky manager Dave Brailsford said. ''It's a bit like watching Messi playing football or something isn't it?'' he said, referring to Barcelona's Lionel Messi. ''He's win- ning with such apparent ease at the moment that it's pretty phenomenal.'' Sagan enjoys putting on a MLB West Division Texas American League WL Pct GB Angels 45 35 .563 5 A's 50 30 .625 — 39 42 .481 11.5 Seattle 35 47 .427 16 East Division WL Pct GB New York 48 31 .608 — Baltimore 42 37 .532 6 Boston 42 38 .525 6.5 Tampa Bay 42 38 .525 6.5 Toronto 41 40 .506 Central Division WL Pct GB Chicago 42 37 .532 — Cleveland 40 39 .506 2 Detroit 39 41 .488 3.5 Kansas City36 43 .456 6 Minnesota 34 45 .430 8 ------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday's results Toronto 6, Kansas City 3 L.A. Angels at Cleveland, late Minnesota at Detroit, late N.Y.Yankees at Tampa Bay, late Texas at Chicago White Sox, late Boston at Oakland, late Baltimore at Seattle, late Today's games N.Y.Yankees (Phelps 1-3) at Tampa Bay (Price 11-4), Noon p.m. Boston (F.Morales 1-1) at Oakland (Grif- fin 0-0), 1:05 p.m. L.A. Angels (E.Santana 4-8) at Cleveland (D.Lowe 7-6), 1:05 p.m. Baltimore (Tillman 0-0) at Seattle (Noesi 2-10), 1:10 p.m. Minnesota (Duensing 1-4) at Detroit (Ver- lander 8-5), 4:05 p.m. Kansas City (Mendoza 3-4) at Toronto (Villanueva 2-0), 4:07 p.m. Texas (Feldman 2-6) at Chicago White Sox (Axelrod 0-1), 4:10 p.m. Thursday's games Minnesota at Detroit, 10:05 a.m. Texas at Chicago White Sox, 11:10 a.m. Tampa Bay at Cleveland, 4:05 p.m. Kansas City at Toronto, 4:07 p.m. Baltimore at L.A. Angels, 7:05 p.m. After a time-trial pro- logue won by Cancellara, and generally flat first few stages, the race is as open as ever. Cancellara has 43 rid- ers within a minute of his overall time — and that's likely to change when the pack heads to the Alps in the second week and the Pyre- nees in the third, if not soon- er. Tuesday's ride marked the first crash-related with- drawals from this 99th Tour, which ends July 22 on Paris' Champs-Elysees. Overall, Cancellara leads runner-up Bradley Wiggins, who is hoping to become Britain's first Tour winner, and third-place Sylvain Cha- vanel — both seven seconds back. Defending champ Cadel Evans climbed one spot to seventh place, 17 sec- onds behind. Sagan was 15th, another six seconds slower. The Swiss leader and the expected Tour title hopefuls trailed Sagan in a 45-rider pack that crossed one sec- ond behind the Slovak star — leaving the top standings little changed. But Belgium's Philippe Gilbert, who last year had 18 victories in all competitions and was the top-ranked rider in the standings, went tum- bling after getting hit from behind. He clambered back onto his bike with scrapes on his left leg and arm and kept going, but lost more time to change a shoe damaged in the crash, said his BMC team manager, John Lelangue. Gilbert straggled across the finish line 7:46 after Sagan, plunging to 104th place overall. The Belgian began the day in seventh place, 13 seconds behind Cancellara. Gilbert's slide meant Evans rose a notch. It was one of at least four crashes that marred the stage as riders jostled to get up front for climbs near the fin- ish, including one within the last mile. Some riders also had mechanical troubles and flat tires. ''The group was nervous. Everyone wanted to be up front,'' Sagan told France-2 TV. ''There were a lot of crashes. ... It was a very dan- gerous stage.'' MLB West Division National League WL Pct GB GIANTS 45 35 .563 — Dodgers 44 37 .543 1.5 Arizona 39 40 .494 5.5 San Diego 31 50 .383 14.5 Colorado 30 49 .380 14.5 East Division WL Pct GB Washington 39 27 .591 — New York 38 32 .543 3 Atlanta 37 32 .536 3.5 Miami 33 35 .485 7 Philadelphia33 37 .471 8 Central Division WL Pct GB Cincinnati 38 30 .559 — Pittsburgh 35 32 .522 2.5 St. Louis 35 35 .500 4 Milwaukee 32 37 .464 6.5 Houston 28 41 .406 10.5 Chicago 24 45 .348 14.5 ------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday's results Milwaukee 13, Miami 12, 10 innings N.Y. Mets 11, Philadelphia 1 San Francisco at Washington, late Houston at Pittsburgh, late Chicago Cubs at Atlanta, late Colorado at St. Louis, late San Diego at Arizona, late Cincinnati at L.A. Dodgers, late Today's games San Francisco (Bumgarner 10-4) at Washington (E.Jackson 4-4), 8:05 a.m. Philadelphia (K.Kendrick 2-8) at N.Y. Mets (C.Young 2-1), 10:10 a.m. Houston (Keuchel 1-0) at Pittsburgh (Correia 4-6), 10:35 a.m. Miami (Jo.Johnson 5-5) at Milwaukee (Wolf 2-6), 1:10 p.m. Chicago Cubs (Maholm 5-6) at Atlanta (Delgado 4-8), 4:10 p.m. Colorado (Friedrich 4-5) at St. Louis (Wainwright 6-8), 4:15 p.m. Cincinnati (Leake 3-5) at L.A. Dodgers (Harang 5-5), 6:10 p.m. San Diego (Marquis 1-4) at Arizona (I.Kennedy 6-7), 6:40 p.m. Thursday's games Miami at Milwaukee, 11:10 a.m. Houston at Pittsburgh, 4:05 p.m. San Francisco at Washington, 4:05 p.m. Chicago Cubs at Atlanta, 4:10 p.m. Philadelphia at N.Y. Mets, 4:10 p.m. Colorado at St. Louis, 5:15 p.m. L.A. Dodgers at Arizona, 6:40 p.m. Cincinnati at San Diego, 7:05 p.m.