WIMBLEDON, England — So what if Maria Sharapova managed to win only two of the first 13 points of her Wimbledon semifinal Thursday, dropping the first three games? So what if she bungled her serve so badly she double-faulted 13 times?
All that mattered to Sharapova was that she roared — well, shrieked — her way back into the match, taking 12 of the last 16 games to beat wild-card entry Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-4, 6-3 and return to the final at the All England Club for the first time since 2004, when she won the title at 17.
“It’s been many years, but it’s a really great feeling,” Sharapova said. “Today wasn’t my best match of the championships, so I was real happy to get through in two sets. But, yeah, it’s pretty amazing to be back on that stage.”
In Saturday’s final, Sharapova will play No. 8 Petra Kvitova, who hit nine aces and dictated points throughout her 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 victory over No. 4 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
Sharapova’s seven-year gap between Wimbledon finals is the longest for a woman in the Open era, which began in 1968.
“I’m in a different stage in my career. I’m 24 years old. I have a lot of experience behind my back,” said Sharapova, who hasn’t lost a set during the tournament. “But I’m still playing tennis.”
Kvitova, who lost in last year’s Wimbledon semifinals, is the first left-handed woman to reach a Grand Slam title match since Monica Seles at the 1998 French Open. She would be the first lefty to win the Wimbledon trophy since 1990, when Martina Navratilova — who was born in Czechoslovakia and was a spectator at Centre Court on Thursday — earned her ninth title.
Punctuating nearly every point she won with a yelp, Kvitova acknowledged afterward that, as recently as two weeks ago, “I didn’t think, like, that I could win” the Wimbledon title.
Azarenka begged to differ.
“She can beat anybody, any day, because right now she has really good game,” Azarenka said. “She’s really going for it.”
