Gilden Information » This eight-player season-ending

ROME - Canadian Milos Raonic advanced to his first semifinal of the season Friday after a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 quarter-final win over Jeremy Chardy of France at the Italian Open. Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., will next play second-ranked Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who is back on track after a right wrist injury sidelined him last week. Raonic led by a set and a break at 6-3, 4-3 before losing his serve for the first time in the tournament. Chardy broke again at 6-5 to force a third set on an overcast day at the Foro Italico. Djokovic, who sat out last weeks Madrid Open, overcame a stiff challenge from David Ferrer before grinding out a 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 win. Djokovic double-faulted on his first match point but then won a 38-shot rally before eventually closing it out in just over 2 1/2 hours. Djokovic is aiming for third Rome title, having won the clay-court event in 2008 and 2011. Also reaching the last four was Grigor Dimitrov, who celebrated his 23rd birthday with a win when 36-year-old Tommy Haas retired after losing the first set 6-2 due to a right shoulder injury — spoiling a matchup between the youngest and oldest players in the top 20. Dimitrovs semifinal opponent will be either seven-time Rome champion Rafael Nadal or Wimbledon title-holder Andy Murray, who were playing later in the last key warm-up event before the French Open starts in nine days. "Its definitely one of the most memorable days of my life," Dimitrov said upon reaching his first Masters series semifinal. "Im just a happy birthday boy today." In womens play, Sara Errani took advantage of a supportive crowd to beat second-seeded Li Na 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 and reach the semifinals for the second consecutive year. Errani will next meet either 2007 and 2008 Rome champion Jelena Jankovic or third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska. In the other half of the draw, 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic beat 13th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and will face either top-ranked Serena Williams or Zhang Shuai of China. The 10th-seeded Errani is attempting to become the first Italian to win the tournament since Raffaella Reggi took the title 29 years ago in Taranto. The last Italian man to win was Adriano Panatta back in 1976. Li was unusually inconsistent, committing 52 unforced errors to Erranis 21, and appeared rattled by a close call from the chair umpire early in the third set. Errani celebrated by waving her arms to incite the crowd. "I did well not to get carried away by the euphoria," Errani said. "Its difficult to describe how it felt at the end. The fans were incredible." ___ With files from The Canadian Press. Vapormax 2 Flyknit Clearance . As deep as their roster is, they need their superstar. Rose scored 23 points in his return from a five-game absence due to back pain, and Chicago hung on to beat the struggling Atlanta Hawks 90-79 on Monday. Wholesale Vapormax 2019 . 31-Feb. 2. While organizers havent decided if itll be red or green clay, they feel their choice of surface will give the Americans an advantage over Britain, which is expected to be led by defending Wimbledon champion Andy Murray. http://www.clearancevapormax.com/cheap-v...-clearance.html. -- Miguel Angel Jimenez quickly shifted his focus back to the Ryder Cup after winning his first Champions Tour event. Cheap Vapormax 3 . The ongoing funk on penalty kill and an unusually quiet night on home ice for the power play divided the Leafs from the Bruins at the ACC in a rare Sunday night affair. Discount Vapormax . -- LeBron James warned the Orlando Magic to stop double-teaming him and ignoring James Jones.Sofia, Bulgaria (SportsNetwork.com) - Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova notched a round-robin victory Tuesday at the $750,000 WTA Tournament of Champions. The diminutive second seed from Slovakia swept past heavy Bulgarian crowd favorite Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) on the indoor hardcourts at Armeets Arena. Two other opening-day results saw third-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta paste sixth-seeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6-1, 6-2 and fifth-seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro upend fourth seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-0, 6-4. Cibulkova (1-0) heads up this weeks Sredets Group, which also includes Petkovic (0-1), Suarez Navarro (1-0) and PPironkova (0-1).dddddddddddd The four-woman Serdika Group features top-seeded Ekaterina Makarova, Pennetta (1-0), Cornet (0-1) and seventh-seeded Garbine Muguruza. Wednesdays round-robin affairs will pit Makarova against Muguruza, Cibulkova versus Suarez Navarro and Petkovic against Pironkova. This eight-player season-ending tournament is for players who have won one or more of the WTA International events during the year but did not qualify for the WTA Finals, which was staged last week in Singapore. This six-year-old event will move to Zhuhai, China, next year after a three- year run in Sofia. Simona Halep beat Samantha Stosur in last years finale. ' ' '