No stopping Sabine Lisicki as she keeps her focus to power through to semis

Sabine Lisicki today advanced into the Wimbledon semi-finals after beating Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-3, 6-3.

The No23 seed, who knocked out defending champion and world No1 Serena Williams yesterday, had too much guile and power for Kanepi during the course of their one hour and five minute match.

Lisicki has now matched her best performance at a Grand Slam after reaching the same stage as a wildcard in 2011 but this time is the bookmakers’ favourite to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish on Saturday.

She is due to face the winner of Agnieszka Radwanska’s match with Na Li on Thursday following an intelligent performance brimming with intent on Court One.

Before a crowd considerably under capacity and with rain in the air, Lisicki stamped her authority on proceedings from the outset forcing break point in the opening game.

The 23-year-old duly converted and maintained that advantage throughout, exploiting her opponent’s poor movement around the court with a series of well executed drop shots.

Kanepi, who beat Britain’s Laura Robson in the previous round, was unable to display the required control when brought into the net by Lisicki and when serving to stay in the opener at 3-5, another short ball deftly delivered from the back of the court earned Lisicki set point.

Unforced errors were also a concern for the 28-year throughout and an errant backhand gifted the German a one set lead inside 33 minutes but Kanepi responded well by breaking Lisicki for the first time to secure a 2-1 advantage.

However, that period in the ascendancy proved to be very brief, with Lisicki breaking back immediately to embark on a run of four consecutive games before closing out the match on serve.

Lisicki said: “I am very happy. It was an amazing match yesterday and I had to make sure I came down quickly enough to be ready for today. But with the experience that I have from the last three times that I have played here in the quarters, I think that helped me a lot.

“Its so nice to be in the semi-finals. I did it two years ago when I played very well and now I felt even more ready. I have had great challenges on the way to the semis and that made me even more ready.

“There is no pressure because it is still a game I love so much and I want to keep it that way. I am going out there in every single match to win it and we will, see what happens.

“It is so great to have the crowd behind me here – that is what I love so much. It is the best support you can get.”