Tennis: Davenport Reaches Wimbledon Semifinals

Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport of the United States and her compatriot Venus Williams have joined Russia's Maria Sharapova and Amelie Mauresmo of France in the women's semifinals at the Wimbledon tennis championships near London.

After considering retirement just one year ago, the world number one Davenport defeated U.S. Open champion and fifth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, 7-6, 6-3 Tuesday. The 29-year-old American faces third-seeded Amelie Mauresmo in the final four, after the Frenchwoman dominated play at the net in a 6-3, 6-4 win over number nine Anastasia Myskina of Russia.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams earned her semifinal berth by eliminating number 12 Mary Pierce. After shutting out the Frenchwoman in the first set, Williams had to work hard in a second set tiebreaker before advancing, 6-0, 7-6. The 14th-seeded Williams next faces defending champion and second-seeded Maria Sharapova in the semifinals. Sharapova defeated eighth-seeded fellow Russian Nadia Petrova, 7-6, 6-3.

Wednesday is men's quarterfinal day at Wimbledon. Defending champion and top seed Roger Federer of Switzerland faces number 21 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, and third-seeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt takes on number 26 Feliciano Lopez of Spain.

Second-seeded American Andy Roddick will have to get past number nine Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean to make it to the semifinals, while 12th-seeded Thomas Johansson of Sweden will be challenged by number 18 David Nalbandian of Argentina.

Some information for this story provided by AP.