Bartoli, Chan win marathon matches

CARLSBAD, Calif., July 21 (UPI) -- No. 1-seed Marion Bartoli battled Christina McHale for nearly 3 hours Friday before earning a spot in the Mercury Insurance Open semifinals in California.

Bartoli edged past McHale, the No. 5 seed, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, overcoming 11 double faults and five dropped service games. Bartoli managed six breaks of her own, however, including a pair in the third set.

She also won two-thirds of the points on serve in the final set in moving into the semifinals against qualifier Chan Yung-Jan.

Chan was on the court 3 hours, 13 minutes in ousting third-seeded Jelena Jankovic 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (10-8), 7-5. Jankovic won more points (130-121) than Chan and they evenly split the 82 points in the third set. But Chan fought off 7-of-8 break points while finishing off two of her three opportunities in the set.

Saturday's other semifinal has second-seeded Dominika Cibulkova going against No. 4-seeded Nadia Petrova. Cibulkova advanced Friday with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Urszula Radwanska by converting 6-of-7 break-point chances. Petrova beat Varvara Lepchenko 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5) in her quarterfinal.