Lisicki backs win over Serena with another

LONDON (AP) — If Sabine Lisicki had a letdown after defeating Serena

Williams, it didn't show.



If Lisicki is penciling herself into the Wimbledon final, she isn't saying.



Showing no drop-off after her dramatic victory over Williams, the

23rd-seeded Lisicki returned Tuesday and made quick work of a much

less intimidating opponent, 46th-ranked Kaia Kanepi, dispatching her

6-3, 6-3 in 65 minutes to advance to her second career Wimbledon

semifinal.



"I was ready today," Lisicki said. "I knew from the past, out of

experience, that I needed to make the switch quickly to be ready, and

that's what I did."



Indeed. Lisicki opened the match by breaking Kanepi's serve in the

first game and didn't look back in that set. In the second, she had

one hiccup — a game in which she double-faulted three times to drop a

break and fall behind 2-1. She broke back right away, however, and won

four of the next five games to close out the match.



Now, the 23-year-old German finds herself in the Wimbledon semifinals

for the second time in three years. Her win against Williams made her

the new, odds-on favorite to win the title and even pushed Britain's

favorite tennis player, Andy Murray, off the back pages of a couple

London tabloids.



All of which means almost nothing — at least to hear Lisicki tell it.



"Match by match," she said. "Did that from the start and will continue

to do that."



She'll play the winner of a quarterfinal between No. 4 Agnieszka

Radwanska and No. 6 Li Na. That match started the same time as

Lisicki's but was still undecided more than two hours after she walked

off the court. A pair of rain delays, an injury timeout and split sets

between the two highest seeds left in the tournament extended the

match deep into the afternoon.



Waiting for Li and Radwanska to finish were 20th-seeded Kirsten

Flipkens and eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova. Along with Li, Kvitova is

the only Grand Slam champion left in the women's draw. The winner of

that match will play either No. 15 Marion Bartoli or No. 17 Sloane

Stephens.



Lisicki had the luxury of sitting back and watching all that action

unfold. Her match against Kanepi was nowhere near as grueling as the

emotion-packed upset over Williams the previous day.



"It was a different matchup," Lisicki said. "I was just as focused as

yesterday because I knew it's going to be tough after yesterday's

match 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."



It was.



Whereas Lisicki was forced to match Williams' power, she played more

of a finesse game against Kanepi. Six of her 23 winners against Kanepi

came off drop shots and Lisicki only needed two aces (compared to 10

against Williams in their three-set match) to defeat her Estonian

opponent.



Kanepi, who advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Britain's Laura

Robson, said she couldn't match her play from that victory. She had 13

winners and 23 unforced errors against Lisicki and fell to 0-5 in

Grand Slam quarterfinals.



"I thought (when) I tried to attack in previous matches, I hit winners

and did well, but today I was missing a lot," Kanepi said. "But on

grass there is no Plan B. I just have to go for my shots. If there is

a ball, I have to hit it."