Less drama and more finesse did the trick for Sabine Lisicki, who backed up her victory over Serena Williams by topping Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday to advance to her second career Wimbledon semifinal.
The 23rd-seeded Lisicki, who matched Williams' power in her stunning victory Monday over the world's No. 1 player, came back less than 24 hours later and hit six drop shots for winners in dissecting the 46th-ranked Kanepi.
"I've had some great challenges on the way to the semis, and now I'm ready for the semis," said Lisicki, installed as the new tournament favorite at London sports books shortly after she snapped Williams' 34-match winning streak.
Lisicki, from Germany, will face the winner of another quarterfinal between No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska and No. 6 Li Na. She'll have more time to rest. Though the two quarterfinals began at the same time, Radwanska had just finished beating Li in a first-set tiebreaker at the time Lisicki and Kanepi were shaking hands.
Then, rain started falling and the Li-Radwanska match had to be stopped for about 15 minutes while the roof on Centre Court was closed.
By then, Lisicki was back in the locker room, getting ready for her first Grand Slam semifinal since 2011, when she fell to Maria Sharapova at the All England Club.
Kanepi, the Estonian who advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Britain's Laura Robson, said she couldn't match her play from that victory. She had 13 winners and 23 unforced errors against Lisicki over the 65-minute match and fell to 0-5 in Grand Slam quarterfinals.
"I thought (when) I tried to attack in previous matches, I hit winners and did well, but today I was missing a lot," Kanepi said. "But on grass there is no Plan B. I just have to go for my shots. If there is a ball, I have to hit it."
Lisicki broke Kanepi in the first game and didn't look back in the opening set.
Lisicki double-faulted three times in the third game of the second set to lose serve for the first time, but broke right back, then won four of the next five games. She sliced and diced more than in the win over Williams, finishing with only two aces (compared to 10 against Williams in their three-set match) but hitting 23 winners.