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Lisicki Avoids Letdown to Gain Wimbledon Semifinal Rising From Adversity and Making It Into an Unlikely Semifinals Field
(about 7 hours later)
WIMBLEDON, England — Unlike other giant killers at this Wimbledon, Sabine Lisicki backed up her upset. WIMBLEDON, England — Last year, Kirsten Flipkens could not enter Wimbledon qualifying because her ranking dropped to No. 262 when she was sidelined two months with life-threatening blood clots in her legs.
A day after ousting the overwhelming favorite Serena Williams, Lisicki deftly and quickly defeated Kaia Kanepi, 6-3, 6-3, to reach the Wimbledon semifinals for the second time in three years. Three years ago, Sabine Lisicki had to learn how to walk again when an ankle injury forced her to miss five months when her career was on the rise.
“I knew from the past out of experience that needed I needed to make the switch quickly to be ready, and that’s what I did,” said Lisicki, the No. 23 seed from Germany. Earlier this year, Marion Bartoli made the difficult decision to fire her father as her coach, then spent months trying to find the right new one.
She broke the unseeded Kanepi in the first game of the match and rolled from there, particularly flustering Kanepi with perfectly executed drop shots. On Thursday, these women will be playing in the Wimbledon semifinals. Who needs stars when the tournament has these compelling women?
Lisicki, 23, said having been in the quarterfinals here two previous times helped her adjust for this match. And her experience playing in the 2011 semifinals, when she lost to Maria Sharapova, will help her, too. Before Tuesday’s quarterfinals began, one thing was certain: for the first time since the 2011 Australian Open, the women’s semifinals at a major would be without at least one of the top three players: Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka or Maria Sharapova
“I know the different atmosphere,” Lisicki said. “You know everything is starting to get empty in the locker room. It is, you know, a completely different feeling. But I’m glad that I had that experience before. I feel much fresher, fitter, better than two years ago.” Instead, No. 15 Bartoli will play No. 20 Flipkens, and No. 23 Lisicki will play No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska, last year’s runner-up.
Now the bettors’ favorite to win the tournament, she maintained her big smile and relaxed demeanor. “If you would have told me in the beginning of the tournament who was going to be with the last four, I would never say the four who are still in, actually,” said Flipkens, a 27-year-old Belgian. “I mean, yeah, O.K., Agnieszka. But the other three are a little bit of a surprise.”
“To have your hobby as a job is something that not a lot of people can say they have,” she said. Flipkens acknowledged that she was the most surprising of all, and few would argue. She was the only one playing in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Others who have pulled off big upsets at this tournament were not able to follow up those victories. Steve Darcis, who defeated Rafael Nadal in the first round, withdrew from his second-round match because of a shoulder injury he sustained against Nadal. Sergiy Stakhovsky, who beat Roger Federer in the second round, lost in the next round, saying he was not prepared for dealing with the aftermath of such an upset. Michelle Larcher de Brito, who upset Maria Sharapova in the second round, was eliminated in the third round. But Flipkens was a champion here before, winning the girl’s championship in 2003 on her way to being the top junior player.
Lisicki knows how to bounce back. Three years ago, just as she was rising up the ranks, she was sidelined for five months by an ankle injury. The injury changed her perspective. Then injuries started piling up. The year after winning at Wimbledon, she had a back injury that doctors said should have ended her career. There was wrist surgery in 2010. In March 2012, blood clots were discovered in her legs, and a doctor told her that without treatment, her next airplane flight could kill her.
“Three years ago when I couldn’t walk, I had to learn how to walk again, and that made me appreciate every single moment out there a lot more,” Lisicki said. “That’s why I don’t let anybody take that away from me.” “I’m just the kind of person that doesn’t like to break, and I keep on fighting back every time,” Flipkens said.
She added: “To come back on the court to compete and then to go even further than I did before the injury gives you a lot of strength.” Shortly afterward, her financing was cut by her tennis federation because of her low ranking. She relied on the support of friends like Kim Clijsters, at whose academy Flipkens trains.
Kirsten Flipkens, a 27-year-old Belgian, knows how to bounce back, too. Last year, she missed two months when blood clots were discovered in her legs. When she returned, her ranking was so low, at No. 262, that she could not even enter the qualifying tournament at Wimbledon, where she won the junior championship in 2003 at age 17. “She’s been there for me through the good and through the bad times,” Flipkens said. “Of course, I have to thank her for still believing in me.”
Since then, she has experienced a career resurgence. In the past year, she has reached three quarterfinals, three semifinals, and two finals, winning her first WTA event last year in Quebec City. In the past year, Flipkens has reached three quarterfinals, three semifinals and two finals, winning her first WTA event last fall in Quebec. She arrived at Wimbledon as the No. 20 seed, achieving her highest career ranking in June.
When Flipkens arrived at Wimbledon this year, she was the No. 20 seed after reaching her highest career ranking in June. The superlatives have not stopped. On Monday, when she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, she kissed the grass and cried. The milestones have not stopped. On Tuesday, Flipkens, known for her glasses and strong net play, defeated an ailing eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Then Tuesday she one-upped herself, with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 8 Petra Kvitova, the 2011 champion here, who appeared feverish and sick in the latter parts of the match. Kvitova was the highest seed left in the bottom half of the draw, which saw the withdrawal of No. 2 Victoria Azarenka and early losses by No. 3 Maria Sharapova and No. 5 Sara Errani. “Still drying my eyes,” Clijsters wrote on Twitter after the match. “So proud of how @FlipperKF handled the big occasion for the first time!”
In the semifinals, Flipkens will face No. 15 seed Marion Bartoli, who defeated No. 17 seed Sloane Stephens of the United States, 6-4, 7-5. Bartoli, who decided this season no longer to use her father as her coach, is in the semifinals of an event for the first time this season. She was the runner-up here in 2007. For Flipkens, the big occasion was made easier by her difficult road to get there.
Even before Tuesday’s matches, one thing was certain: for the first time since the 2011 Australian Open, the women’s semifinals at a major will be without at least one of the top three players in the world: Victoria Azarenka, Williams or Sharapova. This is only the fifth time in the Open era that the top three seeds have not reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event. “I think winning or losing a tennis match doesn’t make a big difference,” she said.
Despite upsets and injuries decimating the women’s draw, Lisicki has still had a challenging path to the semifinals. Of the quarterfinalists, her opponents had the highest average ranking by far, at 21. Everyone else had at least one opponent ranked outside the top 100. That understanding also came to Lisicki after her ankle injury in 2010.
The opponent will not get any easier for Lisicki. In the semifinals, she will play No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska, a 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-1 winner over No. 6 seed Li Na. Radwanska, the Wimbledon runner-up last year, is the highest seeded woman left in the draw. “Three years ago when I couldn’t walk, I had to learn how to walk again, and that made me appreciate every single moment out there a lot more,” said Lisicki, a 23-year-old German. “That’s why I don’t let anybody take that away from me.”
Lisicki has the benefit of having had a relatively easy quarterfinal match, finishing in 1 hour 5 minutes. Radwanska’s last three matches have taken more than two hours. Her epic quarterfinal against Li took nearly three hours and had two interruptions by rain for a total of 42 minutes. They finished the match with the Centre Court roof closed. A day after ousting the overwhelming favorite Serena Williams, Lisicki quickly bounced back and deftly defeated Kaia Kanepi, 6-3, 6-3, to reach the Wimbledon semifinals for the second time in three years.
Li served for the first set at 5-4 and had four set points, including one where she appeared to hit an ace, but it was called out. She chose not to use a challenge, which would have shown the ball was in. Radwanska broke Li in that game and took the set in a tiebreaker. The average ranking of Lisicki’s opponents so far is 21, and it will not be easier in the semifinals. Radwanska survived a riveting battle with sixth-seeded Li Na, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-1.
Then came the first rain delay, which provided a reprieve for Li. Although she was broken in the third game, Li dominated the second half of the second set, winning the last four games as Radwanska struggled with her serve. Radwanska’s previous two matches took more than two hours, and Tuesday’s lasted nearly three, with two interruptions by rain for 42 minutes.
Radwanska, who was moving sluggishly in the second set, took a medical timeout after losing the second set. Her legs were massaged and her right thigh was taped. But she broke Li in the first game of the third set, and again in the fifth game. Li made Radwanska work for the win, saving seven match points in the final game. Li served for the first set at 5-4 and had four set points, including one where she appeared to hit an ace, but it was called out. She chose not to use a challenge, which would have shown the ball was in. Radwanska broke Li and took the set in a tiebreaker.
“This is the quarterfinal of the Grand Slam, so I was really pushing myself even 200 percent to play till the end, fight till the end,” Radwanska said. Then came the first rain delay, and Li recovered to take the second set, winning the last four games.
She added: “It’s not really the injury. My legs are a bit overused.” Radwanska took a medical timeout to have her legs massaged and her right thigh taped. She broke Li in the first game of the third set before the second rain delay, but she needed eight match points to put away Li.
Lisicki, who is of Polish descent, and Radwanska have known each other since they were children and played juniors tennis together. “This is the quarterfinal of the Grand Slam, so I was really pushing myself even 200 percent to play till the end, fight till the end,” said Radwanska, a 24-year-old from Poland.
“We played some teams championship in Poland that I think was under-10 or 12, so that was really long time ago,” Radwanska said. “You know, the time flies, and suddenly we all here playing semifinal of a Grand Slam.” Bartoli’s match with the 17th-seeded American Sloane Stephens on Court 1 was more awkwardly disrupted by rain. Play stopped with Stephens serving at deuce, behind by 4-5 in the first set.
When play resumed more than two hours later, Bartoli won nine consecutive points to take the first set and get an early break in the second, which featured eight consecutive breaks of serve. Bartoli, a finalist here in 2007, was more solid down the stretch to win, 6-4, 7-5. For that, she credited her father, who had coached since she was 6.
“He has always been my strength to really be able to focus mentally and stay strong no matter what is happening,” she said.
Seeking a change at 28, Bartoli parted ways professionally with her father in March. She was coached briefly by the former champion Jana Novotna, but most recently has worked with coaches with the French tennis federation.
This unusual foursome will take the court Thursday, none of whom have won a Grand Slam title. Lisicki and Radwanska have known each other since juniors.
While Lisicki and Radwanska are old foes, Flipkens and Bartoli have never played each other.
“Tennis is kind of a crazy game, and now I am playing Kirsten Flipkens to be in the final of Wimbledon,” Bartoli said. “So it’s also very unexpected, but that’s also the magic of it.”