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London - Fourth seed Victoria Azarenka buried her Grand Slam quarter-final jinx to reach her first Wimbledon semi-final on Tuesday, defeating Austria's Tamira Paszek in a match played on two different courts.
Belarus star Azarenka had lost all of her previous four quarter-finals at the majors, but the 21-year-old shook off that record to win 6-3, 6-1 against her unseeded opponent.
Her reward is a semi-final against Czech eighth seed Petra Kvitova, who she lost to in the third round here 12 months ago.
Azarenka dedicated the win to her mother who was celebrating her birthday on Tuesday.
"I wanted to give her a good gift, I wanted to play beautifully," said Azarenka, who has lost her last two matches to Kvitova - here in the third round in 2010 and in May's Madrid Masters final on clay.
"Petra is a great player. The grass suits her, she has a huge serve. I will have to play my best tennis."
The match had started on Court One but after Paszek had won the first game, the contest was suspended at 18:20 GMT because of the slippery conditions caused by the heavy rain which had disrupted the day's schedule.
One hour later, the two players resumed the contest but this time under the 80 million pound roof of Centre Court.
The switch worked wonders for Azarenka who reeled off the next five games to lead 5-1.
Paszek, making her Gramd Slam quarter-final debut, cut the deficit to 5-3, saving two set points in the eighth game before Azarenka wrapped up the opener in the ninth game.
Azarenka was ahead 2-0 with a break in the second set, backed it up with a love service game and was soon 4-1 to the good as Paszek, who once won a WTA title when she as just 15, wilted under a barrage of winners.
The contest was finished when Paszek meekly netted a return.
Results at Wimbledon on Tuesday:
Women's singles
Quarter-finals
Sabine Lisicki, Germany, def. Marion Bartoli (9), France, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1
Maria Sharapova (5), Russia, def. Dominika Cibulkova (24), Slovakia, 6-1, 6-1.
Petra Kvitova (8), Czech Republic, def. Tsvetana Pironkova (32), Bulgaria, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2.
Victoria Azarenka (4), Belarus, def. Tamira Paszek, Austria, 6-3, 6-1.
