WIMBLEDON, England — Sabine Lisicki followed up Monday's massive upset of top seed Serena Williams with a solid win Tuesday, and now she is back in the Wimbledon semifinals.
Lisicki used her big serve, big groundstrokes and surprisingly agile movement to defeat Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-3, 6-3.
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"I was ready today," Lisicki said. "I knew from the past, out of experience, that I needed to make the switch quickly to be ready, and that's what I did."
Lisicki, the No. 23 seed from Germany is into the Wimbledon semifinals for the third time in her career. She'll face 2012 runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska, the No. 4 seed from Poland.
Radwanska prevailed 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-2 in an entertaining, back-and-forth tussle with No.6 Li Na of China.
On the other side, Marion Bartoli of France defeated Sloane Stephens of the USA 6-4, 7-5. Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium knocked out the last of the major champions, 2011 Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
"It's amazing, it's more than a dream coming through," Flipkens said. "To be in semifinals of a Grand Slam, it's ridiculous."
After Lisicki snapped Williams' 34-match winning streak, she was installed as the new tournament favorite at London sports books.
"I've had some great challenges on the way to the semis, and now I'm ready for the semis," Lisicki said.
Kanepi, the Estonian who advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Britain's Laura Robson, said she couldn't match her play from that victory. She had 13 winners and 23 unforced errors against Lisicki over the 65-minute match and fell to 0-5 in Grand Slam quarterfinals.
"I thought (when) I tried to attack in previous matches, I hit winners and did well, but today I was missing a lot," Kanepi said. "But on grass there is no Plan B. I just have to go for my shots. If there is a ball, I have to hit it."
Radwanska moved one win from her second consecutive Wimbledon final, putting Li away on the eighth match point. Radwanska called for a medical timeout after the second set so a trainer could work on her right thigh. Up 5-2 in the third set, she called for the trainer again for a quick treatment on both legs.
"Too much tennis the last few days," she said. "I was struggling with that. Otherwise, I think it's a good problem to have."
With Radwanska advancing, Poland is guaranteed a semifinalist in both the men's and women's draws. On Wednesday, Jerzy Janowicz plays Lukasz Kubot in an all-Polish men's quarterfinal.
"I kind of started it," said Radwanska, who last year became the first Polish woman to reach a Grand Slam final since 1939, before falling to Williams. "It's great to have, now, the guys doing very, very well. Especially Jerzy. He's a young, great, upcoming player. I believe he's also going to be top-10. This is, for sure, not his last quarterfinal of a Grand Slam."
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