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.
ADVERTISEMENT
“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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.”