LONDON: Sabine Lisicki became the first German woman to reach a Wimbledon semifinal since Steffi Graf in 1999 when she defeated French ninth seed Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1 on Tuesday. As thunder rumbled over the All England Club and torrential rain lashed the £80 million Centre Court roof, the 21-year-old Lisicki also became just the second wildcard to make the last four. She will now tackle either 2004 champion Maria Sharapova or Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova for a place in Saturday’s final. But the 21-year-old, whose career suffered when a five-month ankle injury absence in 2010 sent her ranking plummeting to 218 in March, did it the hard way, squandering three match points in the 10th game of the second set. “I was very disapopinted with myself after serving at 5-4 for the match. But I really decided to just go for it,” said Lisicki. (Agencies)
Fish keeps American flag flying
LONDON: Mardy Fish kept the US flag flying at Wimbledon on Monday by beating last year’s runner-up Tomas Berdych 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 to book a quarterfinal place as the other American survivors exited the tournament. Tenth seed Fish edged a first-set tiebreak 7-5 before pulling away from the Czech sixth seed to set up a last-eight clash with defending champion Rafael Nadal. Compatriots Serena and Venus Williams were bundled out of the women’s draw earlier on Monday before Fish chalked up 23 aces and signed off with an emphatic smash. “It’s not what you set out to do. Being the highest-ranked American, I guess on both sides now, comes a pretty high responsibility,” the world number nine told reporters. (Agencies)