The Wimbledon women’s draw is now down to four women, and while it’s not a big-name lineup, there are still two intriguing matches which could decide a very interesting set of finalists.
The departures of Li Na and Petra Kvitova overnight leave no active Grand Slam champions left in the draw, but two former Wimbledon finalists remain and they should be favoured to contest this Saturday’s final.
Also of interesting note will be if Sabine Lisicki can continue her giant-killing run at this year’s Championships, which have seen her take down three former Grand Slam champions, including none other than Serena Williams in the round of 16.
Here are the two matches in preview.
Sabine Lisicki (23) vs. Agnieszka Radwanska (4)
Head-to-head: 1-1
Last meeting: Radwanska defeated Lisicki 6-2, 6-1 in the quarter-finals of 2012 Dubai Tennis Championships.
Obstacles don’t get any bigger than this for Germany’s giant-killer Sabine Lisicki in this semi-final match.
Having already taken down Francesca Schiavone, Samantha Stosur and Serena Williams in the preliminary rounds, she now faces a player who many believe is now the favourite to take this year’s Wimbledon title.
The gradual departures of most of the tournament favourites, as well as one self-inflicted by Agnieszka Radwanska, sees the Pole as a clear favourite to win her first Grand Slam title.
Now that she has reached the semi-finals, only two more wins stand between her and what would be a great redemption story, after losing last year’s final to Serena Williams in three sets.
Radwanska hasn’t had it all her way these Championships; after winning her first two matches for the loss of just six games, she was pushed to three sets in her next three matches, against promising American Madison Keys, former semi-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova and Chinese rival Li Na.
Radwanska had to work hard to win her quarter-final match, which included having to break Li Na to prevent her taking the first set and winning a relatively close tiebreaker, before losing the second set.
In the end, her class showed in the deciding set as she ran away with it 6-2, and now finds herself well on the path to her first Wimbledon title.
The question will be – can Sabine Lisicki take down another title favourite, or will the defensive pressure of Radwanska be too much?
Prediction: Radwanska in straight sets.
Marion Bartoli (15) vs. Kirsten Flipkens (20)
Head-to-head: Never met
What could have been a grunt-off between Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova to decide the other place in the Wimbledon final will instead be between a former Wimbledon finalist and a Belgian who has come a very long way.
It’s now or never for France’s Marion Bartoli, who over the last few years has underperformed at Grand Slam tournaments.
Bartoli famously reached the final at Wimbledon in 2007, losing to Venus Williams after knocking off then-world number one Justine Henin in the semi-finals.
Since then, she has not contested another final at SW19, but now is just one win away from a potential final showdown against fellow former Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska.
It’s been so far, so good for Bartoli over the last week-and-a-half, as she enters the semi-finals as the only woman not to drop a set in five matches.
Her opponent will be 2003 junior champion Kirsten Flipkens, who this time last year was battling a blood clot infection and was going nowhere with her career.
Over the last 12 months, she has collaborated with recently-retired compatriot Kim Clijsters, and the results are for all to see.
She reached the fourth round of this year’s Australian Open, knocked off Petra Kvitova in Miami and repeated the dose on the latter in their quarter-final encounter.
Now, only a former Wimbledon finalist stands between her and what would be a great rise from the ashes, when it was thought that her career was all but over.
The first set she lost in her match against Kvitova was the only one she has been beaten to in her run to the final four, but she might find Marion Bartoli too much for her to handle.
Prediction: Bartoli in straight sets.
Thus, Radwanska should be in the final, facing Marion Bartoli.
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