Tournament favourite Maria Sharapova will take on powerful German Sabine Lisicki on Thursday in the semi-finals of Wimbledon 2011

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Maria Sharapova doesn’t seem to be suffering from nerves, despite being hailed as the favourite to win Wimbledon 2011. The former champion has played brilliantly throughout this tournament, but she saved her best performance yet for the quarter-finals, where she swept aside the challenge of No. 24 seed Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1.

With the Russian playing like this, it’s going to take an exceptional opponent to deny her a second Wimbledon title. That said, her semi-final opponent Sabine Lisicki might just have what it takes. The young German has been in dazzling form at the All-England Club, and her ferocious serve has enabled her to get the better of a number of higher ranked opponents.

Lisicki defeated former finalist and ninth seed Marion Bartoli in the last eight (6-4, 6-7, 6-1), shaking off some second set jitters to set up her clash against Sharapova. Lisicki has every chance of testing Sharapova on Thursday, but she’ll have to produce the goods when the pressure is on. Sharapova is far more experienced at this level, and with this in mind, it would still appear that Sharapova is the likelier of the pairing to make it through to the final.

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