Right so its time for another post on the Wimbledon championships which will cover the ladies quarter finals and who made it through to the last four, so let's get started.
OK so the first match of the day was between Agnieszka Radwanska, last year's finalist and Li Na, which promised to be quite a tough encounter. And it was proved to be just that as Radwanska was put through her paces from Li Na, who actually went a break up in the 1st set, but Aga soon broke back and play went to a tieberak which Aga won to take the opening set. In the 2nd set Li Na fought back and broke Radwanska to move ahead and soon levelled the match. However in the decider Radwanska took the initiative and moved ahead to a double break, and Li Na made a gutsy last stand by trying to break Aga back at 5-2, but the Pole soon closed it out with a hard fought 7-6, 4-6, 6-2 win. This was a really good match and both players played a high level contest for the centre crowd and Aga looked a bit in doubt to finish it as she had a medical timeout to have her leg bandaged. But in the end Aga's guile and tenacity got her through to her second Wimbledon semi final.
Next up we had Petra Kvitova who faced the in form Beglium player, Kirsten Flipkens, who was very much the underdog in this match as Petra looked to be the favourite. And Petra made the stronger start as she Flipkens to take the 1st set, however in the 2nd set Flipkens mounted a fightback as she broke Petra to take the match into a decider. And in the 3rd set it was Flipkens who upset the odds as she went ahead and broke Petra's serve and her heart with it and went on to serve it out for her first ever Wimbledon semi final with a score of 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. This was another surprise result in a remarkable Wimbledon, although admittedly Petra has been in and out of form this year so it seemed likely that she would get beaten at some point. But Kirsten Flipkens deserves all the credit for pulling off a great win and as she has struggled with injury throughout her career, its great to see someone different come in the rankings. And with Petra knocked out we are now guaranteed a first time major champion as all the major champions are out.
Next up we had Marion Bartoli who played against the upcoming American player, Sloane Stephens, who made her first Wimbledon quarter final. Bartoli however has been in terrific form in the championships, and she took the first set with a break, after a two hour rain delay, as she was insistent they suspend play it made Bartoli unpopular with the crowd when she came back on. In the 2nd set both players traded breaks of serve, until 6-5, with Stephens serving to take the match into a tiebreak dropped her serve to hand the win to Bartoli to reach her second semi final with a 6-4, 7-5 win. While she wasn't too popular with the crowd, which was surprising to see the Wimbledon audience boo someone, Bartoli certainly played the better tennis and she deserves credit for reaching the semi finals again. As for Sloane Stephens well it was a pity she wasn't able to capitalise on her service breaks and get back in the match to push to a 3rd set, but she has the look of a future champion in majors and no doubt we will see more of her in the future.
And finally we had Sabine Lisicki who took on Kaia Kanepi, and after her major upset of Serena Williams, Lisicki looked to be the favourite. And right enough she turned out to be just that as Kanepi looked sluggish in the match and Lisicki played lights out tennis in breaking the Estonian once in each set to nab her second semi final at Wimbledon with a 6-3, 6-3 win. Its great to see Lisicki do really well again as she is a likeable lass (and a babe) with a great smile and attitude on the court, and with no Serena, Sharapova or Azarenka standing in her way, she remains a firm favourite to lift the title.
So that's the ladies semi finals set up complete, which is a pretty tantalising set up between Agnieszka Radwanska and Sabine Liskci, and Marion Bartoli vs Kirsten Flipkens. So who will win????? Well its hard to choose but my money is on Lisicki and Bartoli although I could be wrong, but it would be great to see the two of them in the final as they both played a terrific quarter final match at Wimbledon two years ago.
Right well that's it for the ladies quarter final matches, next up will be the men's.
Till then bye for now.
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