SPORTS
July 2, 2013 | Helene Elliott
WIMBLEDON, England - The abnormal has become the new normal at Wimbledon, where one of the women's semifinalists was playing too poorly a year ago to compete here and the lone remaining past champion was eliminated Tuesday in the quarterfinals "Tennis, it's kind of a crazy game," 15th-seeded Marion Bartoli said after defeating American Sloane Stephens, 6-4, 7-5, in a rain-delayed match to advance to Thursday's semifinals. "But that's also the magic of it. " There was far more craziness than magic Tuesday in the quarterfinals, producing a final four so unlikely one of them couldn't grasp it. Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, who has one career tournament win to her credit at age 27, upset No. 8 seed and 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, on Centre Court to set up a semifinal against Bartoli on Thursday.
ENTERTAINMENT
September 5, 2012 | By Amy Reiter
After the rip-roaring, talent-packed first set of the "America's Got Talent" semifinals last week, you might have expected this week's follow-up - the final 12 contenders for next week's finals -- to feel like the dregs. But I'll be darned if this second batch wasn't as just good -- in some cases, perhaps better - than last week's. At one point, Howie Mandel was moved to exclaim, "This show is exploding!" and then to declare, "This is the best semifinals ever in the history of 'America's Got Talent.'" Which is not to say there weren't a few relative clunkers.
SPORTS
July 12, 2011 | Grahame L. Jones, On Soccer
The sixth Women's World Cup in Germany will know its two finalists by Wednesday night after the U.S. plays France in Moenchengladbach and Sweden plays Japan in Frankfurt. But whatever the outcome of the two semifinal games, one thing is certain: The losing teams will not be insulted by their coaches or ripped apart by their media. That's what happened to England and Germany when they were eliminated from the 16-team tournament in the quarterfinals. England Coach Hope Powell, in an extraordinary and unnecessary outburst after her team's 4-3 penalty-kick loss to France, accused her players of cowardly behavior in not volunteering to take the kicks.
SPORTS
March 16, 2010 | By Grahame L. Jones
Chelsea, the beaten finalist in 2008 and a losing semifinalist in 2009, crashed out of soccer's 2010 European Champions League on Tuesday when it was defeated, 1-0, by Inter Milan in London. The victory, achieved by a 3-1 aggregate score after Inter Milan had won the first leg, 2-1, in Italy, was bittersweet for Inter Coach Jose Mourinho. He had coached Chelsea to back-to-back English Premier League titles and this was his first competitive visit back to his old Stamford Bridge haunts since his 2007 dismissal.
SPORTS
April 28, 2009 | Staff And Wire Reports
Concerns about swine flu prompted CONCACAF to cancel the rest of its under-17 soccer championship in Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak. Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico and the U.S. had clinched spots in the semifinals of the tournament in Tijuana. All advanced to the U-17 World Cup, Oct. 24-Nov. 15 in Nigeria. The U.S. team, which had won its three group games, was headed to Bradenton, Fla., where the players and coaches are based.
SPORTS
March 21, 2009 | Kevin Baxter, Times Staff Writer
Times staff writer Kevin Baxter looks at the World Baseball Classic as it moves to Dodger Stadium for the final rounds beginning today: On deck Venezuela vs. South Korea, today, 6 p.m. -- Carlos Silva, who will be Venezuela's starter, has been spectacular in the WBC, giving up one run in 11 innings over two starts. Those outings came against Italy and the Netherlands, so Silva will be taking a major step up in class against the Olympic champion.