WIMBLEDON, England — Random as Grand Slam tournament draws are meant to be, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer keep bumping into each other in major semifinals, and it could happen again at Wimbledon.
The No. 1-seeded Djokovic, the defending champion, and No. 3 Federer — a six-time winner at the All England Club — were placed in the same half of this year’s field Friday. They’ve played in the semifinals at five of the past seven Grand Slam tournaments, with Djokovic holding a 4-1 edge, including a victory two weeks ago at the French Open.
Similarly, No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 4 Andy Murray are making a habit of major semifinal meetings: Wimbledon could make the fifth time in nine majors they’ve played at that stage. Nadal is 4-0 against Murray in that stretch, including at the All England Club in 2010 and 2011.
The potential men’s quarterfinals at Wimbledon, where play begins Monday, include Djokovic vs. No. 6 Tomas Berdych, the 2010 runner-up; Federer vs. No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic or No. 11 John Isner, the big-serving, 6-foot-9 American best known for beating Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set of the longest match in tennis history; two-time champion Nadal vs. No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga; and Murray vs. No. 7 David Ferrer or No. 9 Juan Martin del Potro.
Isner, it so happens, could wind up with a second-round match against Mahut — an annual occurrence at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament. After their 11-plus-hour marathon in the first round in 2010, they met again in the first round last year.
The women’s quarterfinals set up by Friday’s draw are No. 1 Maria Sharapova vs. No. 8 Angelique Kerber; No. 6 Serena Williams, a four-time champion, vs. Petra Kvitova, the defending champion; No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska or Venus Williams vs. No. 5 Sam Stosur; and No. 2 Victoria Azarenka vs. No. 7 Caroline Wozniacki.
Sharapova and four-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams could meet only in the final — which would be a rematch of 2004, when Sharapova won her first major title.
Coming off a French Open championship that completed a career Grand Slam, Sharapova managed to avoid plenty of top players who wound up on the other half of the bracket, including Kvitova, Wozniacki, Julia Goerges, Ana Ivanovic and Marion Bartoli.
Clijsters withdraws
from Unicef Open
DEN BOSCH, Netherlands — Tournament organizers say Kim Clijsters has withdrawn from the Unicef Open with an abdominal strain just hours before she was due to play Urszula Radwanska in the semifinals.
The four-time Grand Slam winner’s physiotherapist, Sam Versleghers, said Clijsters dropped out of the Dutch grass-court tournament on Friday to avoid jeopardizing her chances of playing at Wimbledon, which starts Monday.
The 29-year-old Belgian is unseeded at Wimbledon for the first time since 2000 and has a tough first-round draw against 18th-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia.
Clijsters said earlier this year she intends to retire after the US Open, which she won in 2005, 2009 and 2010. She also won the Australian Open in 2011.
Paszek beats Bartoli to reach Eastbourne final
EASTBOURNE, England — Unseeded Tamira Paszek of Austria rallied to beat defending champion Marion Bartoli 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 and reach the final at Eastbourne on Friday.
Paszek was a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon last year but had won just two matches this season, losing 11 times in the first round.
She will play either fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber or unseeded Klara Zakopalova in Saturday’s final.
Andy Roddick’s quarterfinal against Italian Fabio Fognini, already held over from Thursday because of rain, was delayed by more than an hour and then transferred to an outside court after high winds drove rain under the court cover.
Roddick broke serve at 6-5 to complete a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory.
Defending champion Andreas Seppi of Italy advanced to the semifinals when Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber retired with Seppi leading 7-5, 2-1. American Ryan Harrison beat Denis Istomin 7-6 (5), 6-4, and Steve Darcis defeated qualifier Marinko Matosevic 6-2, 7-6 (4).
