Pe'er reaches semis in Memphis

Shahar Pe'er advanced to her second semifinal of the year on Thursday night.

By ALLON SINAI
shahar peer 298.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
shahar peer 298.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Shahar Pe'er advanced to her second semifinal of the year on Thursday night, defeating American Bethanie Mattek 6-0, 6-3, at the Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis. The Israeli will face another American in the last four after Meilen Tu crushed Sofia Arvidsson 6-0, 6-2. Less than 24 hours earlier, Pe'er recorded the first "double bagel" of her career, thrashing Milagros Sequera 6-0, 6-0, in a mere 45 minutes and booking her place in the quarterfinals. The Israeli, who is already guaranteed of rising from her current No. 17 world ranking by reaching the last eight, was in top form right from the first serve and sustained her superb play for the next three-quarters of an hour to demolish the 87th-ranked Venezuelan. "I attacked and played aggressively and was able to play at my own pace," Peer said. "Even though I started the match with a double fault, I served well; I didn't have another double fault the rest of the match. "She likes to play at her own pace, but I played aggressive and tried to rush her. And obviously when someone wins 6-0, 6-0, the other person has not played their best tennis." Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich failed to match Pe'er's success on Thursday and were knocked out of the men's doubles tournament in Memphis, losing to Eric Butorac and Jamie Murray 6-4, 6-4, in the second round. Wimbledon agrees to equal prize money After years of holding out against equal prize money, Wimbledon bowed to public pressure Thursday and agreed to pay women players as much as the men at the world's most prestigious tennis tournament. The All England Club announced at a news conference that it had decided to fall into line with other Grand Slam events and offer equal pay through all rounds at this year's tournament. Last year, men's champion Roger Federer received 655,000 Euros($1.170 million) and women's winner Amelie Mauresmo got 625,000 Euros. "It is a victory for women's tennis, and a victory for women in general," Mauresmo said Thursday after reaching the semifinals of the Dubai Open. "It was really a matter of principle. It is a question of equality." AP contributed to this report.