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| 2012 Finalist Agnieszka Radwanska fought her way past Li Na in a thrilling quarter final |
Wimbledon 2013 Day 8: Radwanska battles past Li
And so it came down to eight women on the second Tuesday at the 2013 Championships and so in this most craziest of Wimbledon's I should not be surprised that we have a most unexpected semi-final line-up.
The lone top four seed remaining edged through to her allotted place in the semi-finals as Agnieszka Radwanska got past Li Na 7-6(7-5) 4-6 6-2 in possibly the match of the women's tournament so far.
It swung one way and then the other as Radwanska's court craft matched up against the bigger game of the Chinese No.1.
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Radwanska fended off four set points with Li serving at 5-4 in the opener - two with backhand winners - but was fortunate Li did not challenge a serve that was called wide but actually had clipped the line for an ace that would have given her the set.
Radwanska then reeled off four straight points from 3-5 to take the tie-break and lead after an hour and five minutes.
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| Radwanska avenged her Melbourne loss to Li |
Li hit back from 2-4 down to level and had the momentum heading into the decider but the diminutive Pole broke in the first game of the third.
Under the roof, after a second break for rain, Radwanska pulled ahead 5-1 and held two match points on Li's serve which the sixth seed fended off to hold for 2-5.
Serving for the match it took the 2012 finalist six further match points to get over the line as Li attacked her serve to the last.
The Radwanska serve will come under threat again in the last four as she faces the huge hitting of 23rd seed Sabine Lisicki.
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| Lisicki will be better prepared for her second major semi |
The German followed up her massive win over Serena Williams with an impressive 6-3 6-3 defeat of Kaia Kanepi to reach her second Wimbledon semi-final.
On this form Lisicki poses an ominous threat to Radwanska. It promises to be an exciting semi-final; the German will have learnt from her 2011 semi-final defeat to Maria Sharapova.
In one of the most unexpected semi-final line-ups in the Open era Marion Bartoli and Kirsten Flipkens will face off for a place in the final.
Bartoli's Monica Seles-lite game was firing as she took advantage of a poor serving display to see off Sloane Stephens 6-4 7-5 in a rain delayed quarter final on Court 1.
The French No.1 was pegged back from 5-3 to 5-5 in the second but broke the young American to love in the final game.
In her third Grand Slam semi-final the 2007 finalist will face the unlikely form of 20th seed Kirsten Flipkens.
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| Kirsten Flipkens is a Grand Slam semi-finalist |
Astonishingly the Belgian committed a meagre 5 unforced errors in the biggest match of her life to come from a set down and defeat 2011 champion Petra Kvitova 4-6 6-3 6-4.
Kvitova may have been feeling under the weather but it was a strong performance from Flipkens.
The rule this year is not to call anyone 'The Favourite' and to not be surprised by anything.
Only about one thing is certain and that is that we will have a new Grand Slam Champion come Saturday and it will be one of four players but I have no idea at this stage who it will be!
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