Azarenka, Radwanska Advance to Wimbledon Semis

Agniezska Radwanska

WIMBLEDON – Victoria Azarenka and Agniezska Radwanska have reached the Wimbledon Ladies’ semifinals.  Belarusian Azarenka is in the semifinals of Wimbledon for the second straight year defeating Austrian Tamira Paszek 6-3, 7-6(4) in a match moved to Centre Court from Court 1. Radwanska of Poland defeated Maria Kirilenko 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in another match that was also moved to Centre Court to be completed after several rain delays.

“The frustrating thing is that you never know when you’re going to play,” said Azarenka. “So you don’t know either sleep, eat, wait, go to warm up.  This is kind of frustrating part.

“By the end of the day, I’m glad I finished today.  I had a really good match.  Very difficult to stay focused throughout the whole day.  But it’s the same for everybody.  The other girls waited even longer and they were on and off the court.

“But it’s tennis.  It’s Wimbledon.  It’s rain.  It’s normal, I guess.”

“I expected her to play really well,” Azarenka said of Paszek.  “She’s been playing some amazing tennis lately.  No matter what the score is, through her past experience over this month, she can still win.  So I was ready every time and you could see whenever she was down, she was really going for it.  I had to stay composed and try to stay with her and get the opportunity when I had it.”

Azarenka served for the match twice – at 5-4 and at 6-5 in the second set but could not close it out until the tiebreak.

Azarenka will meet four-time champion Serena Williams in the semifinals. Should Azarenka reach the final, she’ll become No. 1.

Azarenka spoke about playing Williams: “She’s definitely a very tough opponent.  She’s a great champion.  It’s going to be a tough match no matter what.  But, you know, that’s what you kind of expect to have in the semifinals.  We had good matches.  We had bad matches.  We’ll see.”

Radwanska reached her first-ever major final with her victory over Kirilenko.

“I felt like today was at least 25 hours for me,” Radwanska said.  “It’s always difficult.  It’s always tough because you really have to stay focused whole day, going on and off all the time.  It’s never easy, especially that it was really long match and very tough one.

“Finally we switched the court for the indoor court.  Felt so different.  Without rain, without wind, it’s really just different tournament.

“But I’m just very happy that I could win it.”

Radwanska will take on Kerber in her semifinal.

“We played a couple times each other,” said Radwanska.  “Always went three sets, always tough.  Never on grass.  It’s just going to be another challenge.  I just hope I can still play my good tennis and we’ll see.”