WTA Wimbledon Semifinals – Women’s Thursday Preview

Sabine Lisicki vs. Maria Sharapova

Wildcard German Sabine Lisicki is riding on 11-match grass court winning streak. Will Maria Sharapova be able to stop her?

Two years after her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon, wild card German Sabine Lisicki seems to have got her groove back as she is now in the last four of Wimbledon in arguably the best form of her career. Lisicki's biggest win in the draw this year came with an upset over French Open champion Na Li in the second round. Lisicki finished the three set match with a 6-3, 4-6, 8-6 scoreline to clear her intentions about her slim yet justified stakes at the title this year. Currently ranked No.62 in the world, Lisicki has two WTA singles titles from Charleston and s-Hertogenbosch to her resume.

She defeated Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals and became the first German woman to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam in 12 years. Well twelve years ago, Steffi Graf made her last Grand Slam final right here at Wimbledon.

When asked abut this, Lisicki said "It's great for German tennis, we have great girls, not only me. I kind of missed Steffi play. I started watching her a bit later. I've heard all about her and seen some of her matches though. It's unbelievable what she did." Lisicki is now on 11-match grass court winning streak and this should be a real concern for her opponent Maria Sharapova.

After a nine month layoff, Sharapova returned only to deal with a series of disappointing losses that eventually ended with a big triumph in Rome this year. Sharapova also made it to the semi-finals of Roland Garros, her best Grand Slam performance since winning the 2008 Australian Open. Sharapova faced some struggle in her second round match against Laura Robson, but came out a winner in straight sets, then ousted Czech Republic's Klara Zakopalova and downed Shuai Peng in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals. After the exit of Williams sister from the tournament, she has now emerged as the strong favourite to lift the trophy with a straight set victory over Dominika Cibulkova in the quarterfinals.

Winner of three Grand slam titles, Maria Sharapova shot to super stardom right here at Wimbledon seven years ago when she claimed her maiden Grand Slam title as a 17 year old. She also claimed the WTA championships with a win over Serena Williams in the final again and claimed the WTA player of the year award as a result. The years that followed witnessed consistent performance from the Russian who claimed two more majors in New York (2006) and Melbourne (2008).

Both players have met once this year at Miami, where Sharapova won 6-2, 6-0.

Victoria Azarenka vs. Petra Kvitova

Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova will face off on Thursday for a place in the final of Wimbledon 2011

Victoria Azarenka took a major step towards her first Slam title on Tuesday by cruising past Tamira Paszek in the quarter-finals here at the All-England Club. Whilst Paszek was the lowest ranked player left in the competition, her powerful groundstrokes had made her a major threat here, and Azarenka’s dominant performance will have sent out a clear message to the rest of the field.

As the fourth seed, Azarenka is second in the pecking order for tournament favourite, just behind Maria Sharapova. Still, the Belarusian has plenty left to do, and she’ll need to be on song when she meets Petra Kvitova in the semi-finals on Thursday. Kvitova will be competing in her second successive Wimbledon semi-final, and will be hoping to go at least one better than she did last year.

Kvitova ousted Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarter-finals, bouncing back from a second set tie-breaker loss to claim a 6-3, 6-7, 6-2 win. Kvitova may well be feeling confident ahead of her meeting with Azarenka, given that she’s won her last two matches against her, including a victory last season here at Wimbledon. Azarenka appears to be in red-hot form right now though, and Kvitova is in for a serious challenge.