Dinara Safina Battles For Semi-Final Spot

4 months ago 01st Jul 12:26

Dinara Safina had to battle back yesterday to see off new German sensation Sabine Lisicki to reach the Wimbledon semi finals for the very first time.

Lisicki had put out Caroline Wozniacki and French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the two previous rounds but Safina was the heavy favourite going into the match.

But in the blistering heat of Centre Court it looked like the nineteen year old was about to cause another upset as she opened up a 5-3 lead in the first after breaking the world number one and fighting off break points of her own.

However the more experienced Safina, who hasn't had the smoothest path to the quarter finals, pegged her back to take the first set into a tie break.

The German once again pulled ahead but for a second time her nerves got the better of her as she wasted two set points. However that wasn't to matter as Safina gifted the first set to the teenager with a double fault.

Safina was clearly angry with her level of play and was warned for racquet abuse early in the second set. But she did pull herself together to break Lisicki before serving out the set.

In the final set Lisicki's challenge fell away as Safina began to dominate as the German called for the trainer to treat a calf strain.

From this point on it was Safina all the way as she wrapped up a victory 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-1 to face Venus Williams in the next round.

It was once again an easy match for the defending champion as she has made yet another Wimbledon semi final.

The third seed saw off Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1 6-2  in just over an hour. Williams had wrapped up the first set in just twenty eight minutes after racing to a 5-0 lead.

And it was the same one way traffic in the second set as Radwanska couldn't live with the American's serve and powerful groundstrokes.

It was a good day all round for camp Williams as Serena also progressed into the semi finals as she brushed aside the challenge from Victoria Azarenka.

While nineteen year old has impressed throughout the tournament, except for the ridiculous noise, she was no match for the power of Serena as she wrapped up the first set in just twenty six minutes.

And it seemed that Serena had a point to prove after failing to take a single set off Azarenka this year, losing to her in the final of Miami.

Into the second set and Serena's serve wasn't not as consistent and Azarenka capitalised to break her serve for the first time in the match.

But it was to be too much too late as Serena broke straight back and went on to seal the match 6-2 6-3.

She will now face Elena Dementieva in the other semi final as she saw off Francesca Schiavone 6-2 6-2.

The Olympic champion has quietly crept through the draw to make her second Wimbledon semi final in as many years.

It was a routine win for the Russian, who is yet to drop a set in the tournament. The semi-finals will be played on Thursday.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw