By ALLON SINAI
Shahar Pe'er advanced to her second WTA Tour semifinal of the year on Thursday, but needed crutches to leave the court after her 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 victory over Jarmila Groth in the quarterfinals of the Estoril Open in Portugal.
The 22-year-old has been suffering from an ankle inflammation in recent days and needed help to get back to the dressing rooms after the injury became more and more painful as Thursday's match wore on.
Pe'er (54 in the world), who is looking to reach her first tour final since February 2007, had to pull out of her doubles match later Thursday and is a major doubt for Friday's semifinal against Yanina Wickmayer (88).
Meanwhile, Dudi Sela (59) suffered a disappointing exit in the quarterfinals of the Ramat Hasharon Challenger tournament on Thursday, losing 6-3, 7-6 (5) to Benjamin Becker (113).
Sela, who was seeded No. 1, was the last Israeli left in the singles draw after Harel Levy (250) lost 6-4, 6-3 to Marinko Matosevic earlier in the day.
In the doubles tournament, Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich progressed to the semifinals beating Brendan Evans and Jonathan Marray 6-4, 6-1.
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