Maria Sharapova set up an eye-catching Wimbledon semi-final against wild card Sabine Lisicki and admitted it felt great to be in argument again. Russian Sharapova explained how the path to her first semi-final since 2006 at the All England Club has been in a weak position by setbacks. The 2004 winner lost form and health following a flurry of achievement early in her vocation and is only in service at full throttle once again thanks to shoulder surgical procedure.
A last-four look in the recent French Open suggested the 24-year-old was back on path and she confirmed that by hammering Dominika Cibulkova 6-1 6-1 in 59 minutes. Sharapova will next tackle Lisicki in the last four on Thursday.I would have loved for it not to have taken this long but I'm not bad tempered, Sharapova said, shiny on her barren Wimbledon run.
Sharapova's win was built on six successive breaks of serve, with Cibulkova, Caroline Wozniacki's conqueror, unable to replicate her presentation of yesterday.I played well against someone that I lost to little over a month ago on clay in two sets, so I knew that she was able of live good tennis, Sharapova said.I played really solid and did the right things to win.
Lisicki became the first German woman since seven-time winner Steffi Graf 12 years ago to reach the semi-finals after down Marion Bartoli 6-4 6-7 (4/7) 6-1. The 21-year-old did it the hard way, blow three match points and going on to lose the second set preceding to getting better remarkably to victory against a player who ran out of power.
This time last year Lisicki was on crutches with an ankle injury that was misdiagnosed and kept her out for five months. She would have had to go through meet the criteria for Wimbledon had she not won the warm-up contest in Birmingham and as a result been awarding her wild card.It just feels amazing to be in the semi-finals, especially after all I went through, said Lisicki.It's also great for German tennis to have great girls. It's not only me.
Petra Kvitova reached the semi-finals for a second successive year after dispatching Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-2.Their Court One showdown was delayed by three-and-a-half hours since of rain and Kvitova was in no mood to waste any additional time as she started like a freight train. But she fell apart in the second set and fared little better in the tie break against the stubborn and sporty 32nd seed from Bulgaria, who snaps at her heels all through.
Pironkova had look so impressive in ousting Venus Williams yesterday and she showed flashes of that form today, before being outclass in the decide set. Kvitova, the powerful eighth seed from the Czech Republic, had to wait before she found out she will be facing Victoria Azarenka in the semi-finals, after the fourth seed happily saw off the confront of Tamira Paszek.
Their match was switched from Court One to Centre after rain halted the pair in their track after just one game, which Paszek won on her own serve. However, once the match recommence at the centerpiece arena, Azarenka exhausted no time in control Paszek, sealing her development to the last four with a 6-3 6-1 victory.