London - Agnieszka Radwanska held her nerve during three rain breaks and a mid-match court switch to outlast her former doubles partner Maria Kirilenko 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 and reach the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time on Tuesday.
The third seed had been the only top-10 woman not to reach the last four of a major but she corrected that anomaly by resisting a determined second-set fightback from Kirilenko in a stop-start match in which fortunes wildly fluctuated.
The players appeared to be done for the day at 4-4 in the third set when the heavens opened again over Court One, with the umpire announcing: “Play is suspended for the evening and will resume tomorrow.”
However, just under two hours later the duo took everyone by surprise when they re-emerged under Centre Court's covered roof.
The 23-year-old Radwanska needed just 15 minutes under floodlights to finish off Kirilenko and become the first Pole to reach a grand slam semifinal since tennis turned professional in 1968.
Radwanska will face eighth seed Angelique Kerber in the semifinals. - Reuters