LONDON -- Canadas Eugenie Bouchard stumbled in her first two Grand Slam semifinal appearances this year. The third time proved to be the charm Thursday at the All England Club. Bouchard defeated Romanias Simona Halep 7-6 (5), 6-2 to become the first Canadian to advance to the womens singles final at Wimbledon. It was the latest achievement in what has already been a historic run for Bouchard at the sports most prestigious event. "After doing well in the past few (Grand) Slams, Ive been believing since the beginning of the tournament that I can do really well," she said. "Im just trying to take it one match at a time. Its really important not to get ahead of ourselves. "I totally feel like I belong, and Im just so excited for the next match." The 20-year-old from Westmount, Que., has yet to lose a set in her six matches so far at Wimbledon. No Canadian had ever reached the womens singles quarter-finals here in the Open era -- never mind the final -- before Bouchard. There could be a Canadian in the mens singles final as well. Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., will take on Switzerlands Roger Federer on Friday with a berth in Sundays championship on the line. This is uncharted territory for Canadian tennis. Before this tournament, no Canadian had ever reached a mens or womens Grand Slam singles final, according to Tennis Canada. The last Canadian to reach a singles semifinal at a major was Robert Powell at Wimbledon in 1908, the organization said. Montreal native Greg Rusedski reached the U.S. Open final in 1997 but he was representing Great Britain at that time. The 13th-seeded Bouchard, who converted her sixth match point to complete the 94-minute victory, will next face sixth-seeded Petra Kvitova on Saturday. "To get to my first Grand Slam final, its very exciting. Its what Ive worked so long for, you know," Bouchard said. "So Im just proud of myself for todays effort." Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion, beat fellow Czech left-hander Lucie Safarova 7-6 (6), 6-1 in the early semifinal. Bouchard lost in the semifinals at the years two previous majors, the Australian Open and French Open. Shes projected to rise to No. 7 -- the highest ranking for a Canadian woman -- by reaching the final and would go to No. 6 by winning the championship. Bouchard would also be the youngest Grand Slam champion since Maria Sharapova won the 2006 U.S. Open at age 19. "Ive put in a lot of hard work and its been kind of years in the making to me," Bouchard said. "So I believe in myself and I expect good results. Ive had a good start to the season, but I expect myself to do even better than that." In a semifinal that was delayed twice in the first set -- first by a left ankle injury to Halep, and then when a woman spectator fell ill during the tiebreaker -- Halep double-faulted on break point in the second set and then was broken again by Bouchard to give the Canadian a 4-1 lead. The third-seeded Halep, who saved three match points in the seventh game and two more in the final game, appeared to be increasingly affected by her ankle injury and looked down at her feet several times after hitting shots. "It was difficult to continue ... I felt a big pain in the moment, but then was better with the tape," Halep said. "But still, I couldnt push anymore with my leg. My first serve was really bad after that." On Bouchards first match point, Halep hit an ace, but Bouchard did not appear ready to receive, and she went to speak with chair umpire Kader Nouni. But the point stood and Bouchard failed to clinch the match. "When Simona tossed I heard someone scream in the crowd," Bouchard said. "It had happened a few times already. This time I didnt feel prepared to return, so I put my hand up. I felt like we should have replayed the point, but he said, no, it was her point. Just happy I kept my focus and didnt get distracted." The tiebreaker was delayed briefly when the female spectator became ill. With Halep leading 3-2, Nouni jumped from his chair to alert security officials to the womans illness and told both players to go to their sideline chairs. Temperatures on Centre Court were 25 degrees Celsius under sunny skies. Following a delay of about five minutes and after the woman was escorted from the seating area by medical staff, the tiebreaker resumed. The woman returned to her seat later in the match after treatment. Halep had never been past the third round at a Grand Slam until last year, when she made it to the fourth round at the U.S. Open. Then she reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open in January, and got to the final at the French Open last month, losing to Sharapova. In the first semifinal, Kvitova -- the only womens player born in the 1990s to have won a major title -- improved her record to 25-5 on the Wimbledon grass. The 24-year-old has made at least the quarter-finals for five years in a row. "I know how (it feels) when you hold the trophy so I really want to win my second title here and I will do everything I can," Kvitova said. She saved her best for last: Up to 6-all in the tiebreaker, Safarova had won more total points, 40-39. From there, though, Kvitova won 31 of the last 48 points in the match. Kvitova beat Bouchard 6-3, 6-2 in their only previous meeting, a second-round match at the Rogers Cup in Toronto last August. "I find her as a very solid and talented player," Kvitova said. "She is confident in her game right now. Shes moving very well ... shes playing aggressively." After sealing the victory, Bouchard appeared pleased with her performance but kept the jubilation to a minimum. "Its not like a surprise to me -- I expect good results like this," she said. "So for me, I was like, OK good. Its a step in the right direction. I get to play in the final and I still have another match so its not a full celebration yet." Bouchard is the only woman to have advanced to all three Grand Slam semifinals this year. The 2012 Wimbledon junior champion said shes proud to be the first Canadian to make it this far in the tournament. "Its always exciting and special when I can make history," she said. "My job is not done, I want to go another step further. So Im going to stay focused and enjoy it after." Also Thursday, Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver and American Jack Sock upset the second-seeded duo of Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil in mens doubles quarter-final play. The third-seeded team of Torontos Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia dropped a 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-4 decision to fifth seeds Leander Paes of India and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic. Top-seeded Novak Djokovic will play Grigor Dimitrov in the other mens semifinal Friday. The final is scheduled for Sunday. Ichiro Suzuki Jersey .6 seconds left to give the Toronto Raptors a 92-89 victory over the Boston Celtics in an exhibition game Wednesday night. Jake Fraley Jersey .S. Basketball Writers Association. McDermott, who finished his career at Creighton as college basketballs fifth-leading scorer, accepted the honour from Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson at AT&T Stadium, site of the Final Four. https://www.cheapmariners.com/1865k-jami...y-mariners.html. Make that, almost always subjective. Saturday at Carrow Road, the spirit of fair play trumped the rulebook, costing Norwich City three points. Kevin Mitchell Jersey . 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PAUL, Minn.LONDON - Chelsea routed Swansea 5-0 for the leaders biggest win of the Premier League season Saturday while Manchester United produced only its third away success of the campaign at Queens Park Rangers.Diego Costa and Oscar both scored twice before Andre Schuerrle completed Swanseas home humiliation to go provisionally five points ahead of Manchester City, which hosts Arsenal on Sunday.United struggled through the first half at QPR before a second-half turnaround saw substitutes Marouane Fellaini and James Wilson clinch a 2-0 victory.While United provisionally returned to third place — ahead of Southamptons late game at Newcastle — QPR remains in the relegation zone after a fifth straight league match without a win.Tottenham moved up to fifth with a 2-1 victory over Sunderland, Liverpool won 2-0 at Aston Villa, bottom-place Leicester lost 1-0 to Stoke and Crystal Palace came from two goals down to beat Burnley 3-2, making it two wins out of two under Alan Pardew.There were also five goals in south Wales but they were all scored by Chelsea — four in the opening 36 minutes. And the first came 49 seconds into the match, with Oscars 20-yard (meter) shot.Diego Costa added two more in the 20th and 34th, before Oscar grabbed a second for a 4-0 lead at halftime.Substitute Schuerrle made it 5-0 in the 79th, three minutes after replacing Willian.Jose Mourinhos side inflicted the worst home defeat in 24 years on Swansea, which sold top goalscorer Wilfried Bony to City midweek.Gylfi Sigurdsson was dropped into a deeper role with Portuguese striker Nelson Oliveira handed his first start following his loan move from Benfica, but the forrmation did not seem to suit Sigurdsson as he gave away possession in the opening minute.ddddddddddddscar strode forward with purpose and lashed home a shot which flew past Lukasz Fabianski in the Swansea goal and was officially timed at 49 seconds.Cesc Fabregas 15th assist of the league season set up Diego Costas first and the Spain striker then seized on poor defending to score his 17th goal of the campaign.Costas cut-back then allowed Oscar to net Chelseas fourth with ease. The only surprise was it took Chelsea until the 79th minute to net again, with Schuerrle tapping Branislav Ivanovics cross into an empty net.By contrast, Man United has been struggling to score. Fellainis opener at QPR — from Antonio Valencias pass — was only the teams second goal in six hours of league action.The second at Loftus Road came in stoppage time on the counterattack, when QPR was pushing for an equalizer, with Wilson netting from the rebound after first being denied by goalkeeper Robert Green.At White Hart Lane, there was no debut goal from Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe against his former club. Defoes transfer to Sunderland was announced Friday, part of a deal that sent U.S. international forward Jozy Altidore to Toronto FC of Major League Soccer.Jan Vertonghens second-minute opener for Tottenham was cancelled out by Sebastian Larssons curled free kick but Christian Eriksen struck the hosts winner in the 88th.There was a fourth win in five games for seventh-place Liverpool. Fabio Borini volleyed in his first goal of the season before Rickie Lamberts low strike at Villa, which has gone nearly nine hours without scoring. ' ' '