Maria Sharapova survived a gamesmanship row to set up a potential Wimbledon showdown with old rival Serena Williams as the Russian battled into the semi-finals with a 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 victory over Coco Vandeweghe on Tuesday. Sharapova needed two hours and 45 minutes before she finally saw off unseeded Vandeweghe to reach her fifth Wimbledon semi-final and her first since 2011.
But the world number four was accused of unsporting behaviour by Vandeweghe, who was unhappy that Sharapova was moving during the 23-year-old American's service action. Vandeweghe protested to the umpire during the quarter-final and repeated her complaint in the post-match press conference "She (the umpire) said she didn't believe she was doing it during the motion. I strongly disagreed. Towards the later end of the second set, I said if she has a problem speaking to Maria, if she's too scared to do it, I had no problem speaking to her," said the American.
Joining Sharapova in the last four was 20th seed Garbine Muguruza, who defeated Swiss 15th seed Timea Bacsinszky 7-5, 6-3 to become the first Spanish woman to make the Wimbledon semi-finals since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in 1997. Sharapova was well below her best on Centre Court, making 23 unforced errors, serving 10 double faults and hitting only 19 winners. But the always tenacious 28-year-old somehow found a way to secure her 20th Grand Slam semi-final appearance that has brought her five major titles.
"It's been a while since I've been at the semi-final stage here so I'm really happy. It gives me a lot of confidence," Sharapova said. "She was playing with nothing to lose, so I knew it was going to be tough. "But you have to give everything you have on a special occasion on a special court. I regrouped in the third and got it done."
Lying in wait for Sharapova in Thursday's semi-finals is likely to be the familiar figure of five-time Wimbledon champion Serena, who was due to face former world number one Victoria Azarenka later on Tuesday. The 33-year-old American, who famously lost to the teenage Sharapova in the 2004 Wimbledon final, has now won 17 of their 19 meetings.
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