Top seed Dinara Safina felt like Santa Claus after almost gifting German teenager Sabine Lisicki a place in the Wimbledon semi-finals yesterday.
Top seed Dinara Safina felt like Santa Claus after almost gifting German teenager Sabine Lisicki a place in the Wimbledon semi-finals yesterday.
Lisicki had already knocked out fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki to reach the quarter-finals, and threatened another upset after taking the opening set on Centre Court.
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Dinara Safina celebrates on winning a point against Sabine Lisicki during their quarter-finals at Wimbledon yesterday. pic/AFP |
But Safina overcame serving 15 double faults including three in a row from 40-0 late in the deciding set to win 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-1 in two hours and 28 minutes to seal a last-four clash with defending champion Venus Williams later today.
"My service today, I think I was Santa Claus serving so many double faults," admitted Safina, who was somewhat flattered by the scoreline.
Perfect practice"On the practice court I don't serve a single double fault.
"The serve is there, I just have to put the brain there. I know what I have to do, I'm just not doing it."
There was no escaping the fact that Safina had to come back from a set down to win for the second match in succession, having trailed former champion Amelie Mauresmo in the fourth round on Monday.
"It was disappointing because today again I had a very slow start, like I'm playing half of my tennis until I'm down, and then I start to play better," added Safina. "I let her play instead of starting to dictate myself from the first point.
"But I'm happy that I'm in the semis, I was tough mentally and I think that was the key today."
