TENNIS in DEPTH.

Yanina Wickmayer overpowered Shahar Peer on Wednesday evening to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open and return to the Top 20.

The two held tightly to their service games early, neither coming close to being broken in the first five games; the No.23-seeded Wickmayer cracked the match open in the sixth game with a break at 15 and rode that wave until she was up, 63 51. Peer, the No.10 seed, won two games in a row to close to 63 53 but Wickmayer was too powerful on the return and broke again for a 63 63 win. “I woke up this morning and felt really good,” Wickmayer said. “I had a good practice and when I came out today I felt really good and powerful out there.”

Wickmayer is projected to return to the Top 20 on Monday’s rankings. She spent 50 career weeks in the Top 20 during the 2009 and 2010 seasons but fell out in October 2010 and has been hovering between No.22 and No.26 ever since. She peaked at No.12 in the world for three weeks last spring.

Next up for Wickmayer is No.15 seed Marion Bartoli, who beat No.19 seed Ana Ivanovic earlier on Wednesday. Bartoli leads Wickmayer in their head-to-head series, 2-0.

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