Radwanska beats Li in epic Wimbledon quarter-final

The leading ladies have exited stage left but the understudies kept this most volatile of Wimbledon scripts bubbling along on Tuesday to ensure a new name will be engraved on the trophy come Saturday.

Emerging from a quarter-final line-up featuring women from eight different nations and with just two grand slam titles between them were Sabine Lisicki, Agnieszka Radwanska, Marion Bartoli and, most surprising of all, Belgian Kirsten Flipkens.

Lisicki beat unseeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi 6-3 6-3 to prove that Monday's shock victory over red-hot favourite Serena Williams was no flash in the pan.

Fourth seed Radwanska, last year's runner-up, outlasted China's Li Na in an absorbing three-set battle before the unorthodox Bartoli beat American upstart Sloane Stephens 6-4 7-5 and Belgian Flipkens reached her first grand slam semi-final by defeating 2011 champion Petra Kvitova in three sets.

Lisicki, trying to become Germany's first Grand Slam singles champion since Steffi Graf in 1996, will take on fourth seed Radwanska on Thursday while Flipkens, languishing at 262nd in the world a year ago, will play 2007 Wimbledon runner-up Bartoli.

After the demise of so many fancied players, opportunity is knocking loudly for one of them.

"It's not exactly what we were planning on," nine-times Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova told Reuters.

"But it's the best opportunity ever for one of them. It's great we'll have a new champion and it just shows that this sport can be so unpredictable.

"Serena was the favourite now we'll have a new winner."

Navratilova picked out Lisicki as her tip for the title and the way the world No. 24 dismantled Kanepi a day after stunning five-times champion Williams the momentum appears to be with the big-serving German who was a semi-finalist two years ago.

Until Tuesday the giant-slayers have had short shelf lives with Steve Darcis, Sergiy Stakhovsky and Michelle Larcher de Brito - who took out Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova respectively - all failing to last another round.

Not so Lisicki, who needed only 65 minutes for victory.

"I feel much fresher, fitter, better than two years ago," said Lisicki who lost to Sharapova in the 2011 semis.

"I was just as focused as yesterday because ... I knew it's going to be tough after yesterday to just keep the level up.

"But I think I did a very good job to go for my shots and play smart. It had to be a different game today."

Radwanska and former French Open winner Li produced two hours 43 minutes of enthralling action on Centre Court in a match that finished under cover after two rain interruptions.

Great improviser Radwanska, one of three Poles to reach the singles quarter-finals here, showed incredible resistance and Houdini-like escapology to win points that seemed beyond her during a 7-6(5) 4-6 6-2 victory over the powerful Chinese.

CONTORTED BACKHAND

She even played one contorted backhand winner from a sitting position during the heat of battle and needed eight match points to claim only her second win in nine Grand Slam quarter-finals.

"From the first point to the last it was a really great battle," Radwanska, who saved four set points before winning the opening set, told reporters.

She needed an injury time-out after Li stormed back from 4-2 down in the second set with some aggressive tennis and played the decider with bandages on both thighs.

"It's been really tough," she said. "My legs are bit over-used but I'll do everything in my power to be ready."

A quarter-final line-up lacking the A-listers of the women's game had prompted some scornful headlines.

However, the novelty factor added to the intrigue and fans flocking into the grounds reading up on the merits of Sloane Stephens and a Belgian nicknamed "Flipper" were provided with a refreshing variety of styles.

The was also an absence of the grunts and shrieks that often get louder and louder at the business end of grand slams.

American Stephens, the 17th seed, is being tipped as the natural successor to Williams but against idiosyncratic Frenchwoman Bartoli, whose punchy groundstrokes are tailor-made for grass, her inexperience was exposed.

Bartoli angered the Court One crowd by refusing to play in light rain when Stephens served to stay in the first set and after a lengthy break returned to move ahead.

Stephens was broken to love three times in a second set containing eight consecutive service breaks and doube-faulted when serving at 5-6 to help Bartoli over the finishing line.

Flipkens, who is short-sighted and plays in glasses, slipped down the rankings last year after suffering blood clots in her legs but has soared back up the standings this year.

Serving beautifully and showing no nerves in her first grand slam quarter-final the Belgian 20th seed recovered from being out-hit by left-hander Czech Kvitova to win 4-6 6-3 6-4.

"It's amazing, more than a dream coming true," said Flipkens who became the first Belgian to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals since Justine Henin in 2007.

"Semi-finals of a Grand Slam, ridiculous. Last year I didn't get into qualifying of Wimbledon."

Attention turns back to the men's quarter-finakls on Wednesday with top seed Novak Djokovic facing Czech Tomas Berdych and home favourite Andy Murray up against Spain's Fernando Verdasco.

Agnieszka Radwanska downed China's Li Na in an epic Wimbledon quarter-final on Tuesday between the top two seeds to reach the last eight.

The Polish fourth seed, last year's beaten finalist, beat the sixth seed 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-2 in a two-hour, 43 minute contest on Centre Court.

Radwanska plays German 23rd seed Sabine Lisicki, the conqueror of defending champion Serana Williams in the fourth round, in the semi-finals on Thursday.

The Pole eked every last sinew of energy out of her aching legs to reach the semi-finals on Tuesday after finally dousing Li Na's flame with a battling 7-6(5) 4-6 6-2 victory in a gripping Centre Court match.

Radwanska, her right thigh tightly strapped after a medical timeout at the start of the second set, and requiring attention to her left leg before serving for the match at 5-2 in the third, held her nerve to prevail after spurning seven match points.

Massage, treatment, rest and watching compatriots Jerzy Janowicz and Lukas Kubot clash in the men's quarter-finals on Wednesday are foremost in her plans before the fourth seed faces German Sabine Lisicki on Thursday.

"It's not really the injury. My legs are a bit overused. A lot of treatment and massage tomorrow and I will be ready for the semi-final," she told reporters.

Radwanska came through another three-set battle with Tsvetana Pironkova on Monday having also been taken the distance by Madison Keys in the third round.

"A lot of tennis the last couple days, so it's been really tough," she said.

"Especially on grass... everything comes to your legs."

The Pole has, at least, not been getting as closely acquainted with the green turf as some at this year's championships with slipping and sliding players eyeing the courts with suspicion and scepticism.

"Just good shoes," came a smiling Radwanska's answer when asked how she was keeping a sure footing.

The 24-year-old has long been in the upper echelons of the women's game but it was not until last year that she reached her maiden grand slam final at the All England club.

Plenty wrote her off even before she even took to the court against Serena Williams but she made the nervous American work for her fifth Wimbledon title in three intriguing sets.

That experience is helping her maintain her focus this year.

"Being in the final of a grand slam, this is a very good experience... especially that I'm in the semi-final of the same grand slam," she said.

"So I know how it is, what I have to do, you know, to be in the final again.

"The bigger pressure is in the first week. Now I'm just more relaxed. I will just go on court and try my best again without that big pressure."

Radwanska, at four, is the highest seed remaining after the demise of Williams, beaten by Lisicki in the fourth round, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova.

"I think it was huge surprise for everyone, I guess," she said of Serena's exit.

"The last couple of months she was winning pretty much everything."

Lisicki swept into the Wimbledon semifinals on Tuesday as the German followed her sensational upset of Serena Williams with an emphatic 6-3, 6-3 victory over Estonia's Kaia Kanepi.

Lisicki, seeded 23rd, will play Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska for a place in her first Grand Slam final.

The 23-year-old has never made it past the fourth round at any other Grand Slam, but she comes alive on Wimbledon's grass courts, where her 18-4 record and four last-eight appearances is a stark contrast to a 16-15 mark at the other majors.

Her previous best run at the All England Club ended in a semifinal defeat to Maria Sharapova in 2011.

Now the big-serving Lisicki has a chance to finally reach her first Grand Slam final and become the first German woman to feature in the Wimbledon final since Steffi Graf in 1999.

"I'm very happy. It was an amazing match yesterday so I had to make sure I calmed down quickly for today," Lisicki said.

"The experience I had in the other quarter-finals at Wimbledon helped me a lot.

"I had great challenges here this year and that made me even more ready for this match.

"There's no pressure. It's a game I love so much and I want to keep it that way."

Steve Darcis, Sergiy Stakhovsky and Michelle Larcher De Brito, the respective conquerors of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Sharapova last week, had all crashed out in their next matches after those Wimbledon shockers.

But Lisicki, who had less than 24 hours to recover after her epic triumph against Williams, avoided the same fate with another commanding display.

She hit 23 winners to just 13 from Kanepi and cruised to victory in only 65 minutes on Court One.

Lisicki established her power game from the baseline and broke in the opening game.

At 46 in the world, Kanepi was the lowest ranked woman left in the tournament.

The 28-year-old had lost all four of her previous Grand Slam quarterfinals, including a tough three-set defeat against Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon in 2010, and this was to prove another dispiriting experience.

Lisicki had far more panache than Kanepi and the German's delicate touch was pivotal as she broke at 5-3 to seal the set.

After struggling in the first set, Kanepi suddenly had a lifeline when a sloppy service game from Lisicki gave her a 2-1 lead.

Yet Lisicki hit straight back thanks to a Kanepi double fault on break point.

A series of searing returns left Kanepi reeling as the German broke again for a 4-2 lead and she closed out the win on her third match point.

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