Wimbledon wildcard
June 28, 2011
Young wildcard Sabine Lisicki became the first German woman in over a decade to make it to the semifinals of a Grand Slam when she fought back to defeat French ninth seed Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon on Tuesday.
Not since the great Steffi Graf made it to the Wimbledon singles final in 1999 has Germany been represented beyond the quarterfinals at one of the big four tournaments of the tennis calendar - the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
Lisicki, 21, defeated Bartoli 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1 over nearly two and half hours under a closed roof on Centre Court as a rainstorm raged outside.
Hard to believe
The elated youngster, who also managed a second-round win over Chinese fourth seed Li Na, will now face fifth seed Maria Sharapova on Thursday.
"I don't know what to say, I cannot believe it yet," said Lisicki, who a year ago was out of the game for four months and on crutches due to an ankle injury suffered in the spring.
"It was such a tough road back for me. I'm just so happy," she added. "I did a very good job and played terrific tennis. I'm getting better with each match; I have absolutely nothing to lose."
Fearsome serve
The Berliner has been praised for her powerful serve, which has regularly been clocking in at around 190 kilometers per hour (120 miles per hour).
Her defeated third round opponent, the French Open champion Li Na described Lisicki's serve as unplayable.
"From the first point until the end of the match, every serve was like 117mph. It's impossible for women," Li said.
Lisicki's serve and raw power has been noted by her next opponent Sharapova, who is herself a big hitter. It looks likely the semi-final could be decided by power rather than finesse.
"A player that's playing with so much confidence and really great grass court tennis is always very dangerous," Sharapova said.
Making the semi-finals guarantees the German a record prize winnings of 307,000 euros ($442,000) and a jump up to the top 30 of the world rankings. She is also only the second player to make the last four of the tournament with a wildcard entry.
Author: Darren Mara, Catherine Bolsover (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
Editor: Michael Lawton