Simona Halep, Eugenie Bouchard in Wimbledon semifinals

July 02, 2014 08:28 pm | Updated April 21, 2016 11:29 pm IST - London

Simona Halep took 57 minutes to beat Sabine Lisicki.

Simona Halep took 57 minutes to beat Sabine Lisicki.

Simona Halep and Eugenie Bouchard will meet for a place in the Wimbledon final after winning quarterfinal matches in straight sets on Wednesday.

Third-seeded Halep, down 4-1 in the first set, won 11 games in a row to beat 2013 finalist Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-4, 6-0 in 57 minutes on Centre Court.

Thirteenth-seeded Bouchard defeated No. 9 Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semifinals at a third consecutive Grand Slam.

“I’m just excited to be in the semis again and I want to go one step further for sure,” Bouchard said.

Their progress to the final four has underlined the rise of a new crop of players in the women’s game. Former champions Serena and Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova are all out of the tournament.

“I think it’s a normal evolution of things as the great champions get a bit older the new ones start coming in I think it’s a really exciting time for women’s tennis,” said 20-year-old Bouchard, who will break into the top 10 in the rankings next week.

The other semifinal is an all-Czech matchup between 2011 champion Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova.

Bouchard was in control against Kerber who beat Sharapova on Tuesday after saving four break points while serving at three-all in the first set, a game that lasted nearly 10 minutes.

“I was really trying to stay in the moment,” Bouchard said. “I knew I couldn’t think ahead and things like that and that’s what I’ve been working on for a while now to try to stay mentally in the moment. I make a few bad errors but at the same time I hit a few good aggressive shots and that’s my game.”

“She had 4-1 and then I came very well back,” Halep said. “I played my best today and I was enjoying every moment because it was incredible on Centre Court.”

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