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Sharapova wary of Lisicki bombardment

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-06-30 08:14

Maria Sharapova of Russia reacts during her quarterfinal match against Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia at Wimbledon on Tuesday. She won 6-1, 6-1. [Phtot/Agencies]

Russian star will face the dangerous and big-hitting German in the semis

LONDON - Maria Sharapova is preparing to fight fire with fire on Thursday as she attempts to combat the raw power of German wild card Sabine Lisicki in a semifinal battle of the big-hitters.

Russian fifth seed Sharapova has been installed as the bookmakers favorite to win her second Wimbledon title after an impressive march to the last four where she has not yet dropped a set in five matches.

The 2004 champion was in scintillating form in the quarterfinals, where her booming groundstrokes reduced 24th seed Dominika Cibulkova to rubble in a 6-1, 6-1 on Centre Court.

But Sharapova faces potentially the most challenging opponent left in the women's tournament in the shape of Lisicki, the 21-year-old who has regularly been clocking serves at about 192km per hour.

"A player that's playing with so much confidence and really great grass-court tennis is always very dangerous," Sharapova said, agreeing with a suggestion that the semifinal could be decided by power rather than finesse.

"I'm sure it will be powerful. She hits very hard. She has probably one of the hardest serves on the tour, and that's very beneficial.

"She's used that very well on the grass. So that will be challenging."

Lisicki's serve already accounted for the third seeded French Open champion Li Na in the second round, who 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, who downed French ninth seed Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1 to become only the second wild card in Wimbledon history to reach the last four, is also unburdened by expectation.

"Maria's a great champion and has won Grand Slams. She has been playing really well recently and she's been at this stage before," Lisicki said.

"But I have absolutely nothing to lose. I just enjoy myself out there on the court so much."

Lisicki, whose career went into a tailspin when an ankle injury left her barely able to walk, is determined to savor every moment of her career while she can.

She had already been a Wimbledon quarterfinalist in 2009 before disaster struck in 2010 when an ankle injury picked up in Miami sidelined her for five months and sent her ranking plummeting to 218.

"I'm more experienced and calmer. Twso years ago it was different. I was more nervous. I couldn't sleep so good," said the German.

"But now it's different. After the injury, I know how fast it can be gone. I just try to enjoy every minute that I'm on the court."

The other side of the women's draw sees Czech eighth seed Petra Kvitova face fourth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, in a repeat of last year's third-round meeting won by Kvitova 7-5, 6-0.

Azarenka advanced to a Grand Slam semi-final for the first time after defeating Tamira Paszek 6-3, 6-1 on Tuesday.

Azarenka, who also lost to Kvitova in the final of the Madrid Masters last month, insisted her recent record would count for nothing on Thursday.

"It's going to be a different story," she said. "It's a completely different game even from we played last year here. It's going to be completely different game, different stage of the tournament."

Agence France-Presse