Kirsten Flipkens and Sabine Lisicki, whose careers were almost wrecked by illness and injury, booked emotional places in the Wimbledon semi-finals on Tuesday.
Flipkens will be playing in her first grand slam semi-final at the age of 27 after knocking out 2011 champion Petra Kvitova, 4-6 6-3 6-4,
The Belgian 20th seed goes on to face 2007 runner-up Marion Bartoli, the 15th seed, who defied a chorus of boos before seeing off American 17th seed Sloane Stephens, 6-4 7-5.
Lisicki made her second Wimbledon semi-final by cruising past Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, 6-3 6-3.
The German 23rd seed now tackles Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska who battled past Chinese sixth seed Li Na, 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-2.
This time last year, Flipkens, the 2003 junior champion, was ranked a lowly 262 in the world after blood clots in her left ankle forced her to take several months off.
“It’s amazing, it’s more than a dream come true to be in the semi-final of a grand slam, it’s ridiculous,” Flipkens said.
“Last year I didn’t even get into the qualifying of Wimbledon. I still cannot believe it. I was so calm on the court, I had nothing to lose and I just went for my shots.”
Lisicki followed-up her shock defeat of five-time champion Serena Williams to book her place in her second Wimbledon semi-final.
The German also made the last-four as a wildcard in 2011, three months after her world ranking had slumped to 218 as she fought her way back from a serious ankle injury which left her “needing to learn to walk again”.
“It was an amazing match yesterday, but I had to make sure that I had calmed down and was ready for today,” said Lisicki, who completed victory in her fourth Wimbledon quarter-final just before rain began to fall.
Radwanska, the highest seed left following the exit of defending champion Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Sharapova, beat Li in a gripping two-hour, 43 minute contest which was completed under the Centre Court roof.
Radwanska, the runner-up in 2012, took victory on an eighth match point.
Li fired 58 winners in Tuesday’s quarter-final but was undone by 40 unforced errors.
Bartoli, the 2007 runner-up to Venus Williams, fell foul of the fans on Court One when she demanded that play be stopped when she was leading 5-4 40-40 with Stephens serving as light rain began to fall.
When they resumed after two and a half hours, Stephens quickly dropped the first set and slipped 2-0 down in the second, losing the first nine points as the crowd, convinced that the Frenchwoman’s complaints over the state of the court had been unjustified, jeered following their lengthy wait.
“I don’t get why the crowd was against me,” said the 28-year-old Bartoli. “The courts are slippy even when they are dry but when they are wet they can be dangerous.
“I wanted to make sure I didn’t get hurt. I didn’t want to come off for any other reason.”
