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The Latest: No. 1 Barty reaches 1st Wimbledon semifinal

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Australia's Ashleigh Barty plays a return to compatriot Ajla Tomljanovic during the women's singles quarterfinals match on day eight of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Tuesday, July 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

WIMBLEDON – The Latest on Wimbledon (all times local):

5:50 p.m.

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Top-ranked Ash Barty has reached her first Wimbledon semifinal.

Barty beat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 6-3 in the first all-Australian Grand Slam quarterfinal in 41 years.

Barty broke for a 5-3 lead in the second set and then served out the win with an ace. She finished with 23 winners to just five for Tomljanovic, who was playing in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Barty will play 2018 Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber on Thursday.

Barty won the girls' singles title at Wimbledon in 2011 but had not been past the fourth round at the All England Club in four previous appearances.

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4:45 p.m.

British 18-year-old Emma Raducanu says she retired reluctantly from her fourth-round Wimbledon match because of dizziness and difficulty breathing.

Raducanu, a wild card playing in her first Grand Slam tournament, was trailing Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4, 3-0 when she stopped.

“I think the whole experience caught up with me,” she said in a statement Tuesday. “At the end of the first set, after some super intense rallies, I started to breathe heavily and felt dizzy. The medical team advised me not to continue, and although it felt like the hardest thing in the world not to be able to finish my Wimbledon on the court, I was not well enough to carry on.”

Raducanu won over fans across Britain with her improbable run to the second week of the tournament.

“Last night will go a long way to helping me learn what it takes to perform at the top,” she said.

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4:30 p.m.

Glad to be back on grass, Angelique Kerber advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals for the fourth time by beating an erratic Karolina Muchova 6-2, 6-3.

Kerber won the 2018 title, and the return to lawn tennis has rejuvenated her after a first-round loss at the French Open.

Seeded 25th, Kerber used her steady strokes to beat Muchova, who had 27 unforced errors and only nine winners.

The 33-year-old Kerber earned her 80th career grass-court victory, including 11 this year. Last month the German won her first title in nearly three years on grass at Bad Homburg.

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4:10 p.m.

Aryna Sabalenka has won more matches this year than anyone else in women’s tennis, and now she’s even winning at Grand Slams.

Playing in her first major quarterfinal, the No. 2-seeded Sabalenka used her attacking style to beat No. 21 Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-3 at Wimbledon. Sabalenka was aggressive with her strokes and court position but still had more winners than unforced errors.

Until this year, Sabalenka had never advanced beyond the second round at Wimbledon. The Belarusian’s opponent in the semifinals Thursday will be No. 8 Karolina Pliskova, who beat unseeded Viktorija Golubic 6-2, 6-2.

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2:50 p.m.

Karolina Pliskova finally had a chance to play in a Wimbledon quarterfinal, and she made the most of it.

The tour veteran lost only 13 points on her serve and beat unseeded Viktorija Golubic 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals.

Pliskova, who is seeded eighth, erased all three break points she faced. The Czech has been broken only three times in the tournament and has yet to drop a set.

Pliskova was the U.S. Open runner-up in 2016, but this is her deepest run at a Grand Slam since early 2019. She is playing at Wimbledon for the ninth time and had never previously been beyond the fourth round.

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2:30 p.m.

An overnight break helped No. 14-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland rally past No. 2 Daniil Medvedev to earn the last quarterfinal berth at Wimbledon.

Hurkacz won 2-6, 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. The players were on serve in the fourth set when the match was suspended Monday night because of rain.

The versatile Hurkacz won 50 points at the net, including 10 when playing serve and volley. He became a first-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist, and his opponent Wednesday will be his idol, Roger Federer.

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1:10 p.m.

Six first-time Wimbledon quarterfinalists will be in action as four women's matches determine the lineup for the semifinals.

But first on Centre Court is the completion of the last men's fourth-round match between No. 2-seeded Daniil Medvedev and No. 14 Hubert Hurkacz, which was suspended in the fourth set because of rain. Medvedev leads two sets to one, with the players on serve in the fourth set.

First up on Court 1 is Karolina Pliskova against unseeded Viktorija Golubic, now underway with the retractable roof closed because of rain.

Only one women's quarterfinal involves players who have advanced this far before at Wimbledon. The 2018 champion, Angelique Kerber, takes on Karolina Muchova, who lost in the round of eight two years ago.

Top-ranked Ash Barty will be last on Centre Court to face unseeded Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. No. 2-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, playing in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, goes against Ons Jabeur of Tunisia.

Crowds on Centre Court and Court 1 can increase to 100% capacity beginning with the quarterfinals as Britain eases pandemic restrictions.

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More AP tennis coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports


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