Russian teenager takes centre stage

Russian teenage sensation Maria Sharapova became the darling of the Centre Court as she blazed her way into the Wimbledon semi-finals.

The 17-year-old from Siberia proved too hot to handle for seasoned campaigner Ai Sugiyama, winning 5-7 7-5 6-1 in a quarter-final of high quality.

Sharapova dropped her first set of the tournament but gradually overcame her gritty opponent in a war of attrition, finishing in dominant fashion to earn a last-four clash with fifth seed Lindsay Davenport, who beat Karolina Sprem 6-2 6-2 on court one.

“It’s amazing, I’m speechless,” she told the BBC. “I don’t know how it happened. I was down the whole match and felt there was no chance.

“This is a moment you live for. I always wanted to play on Centre Court but I never thought about being in the semi-finals.”

Sharapova, who has yet to complete her school studies, reached the fourth round as a wild-card debutant 12 months ago and is now just one match away from appearing in her first Grand Slam final.

Only three places separated the two players in the world rankings but Sugiyama conceded 11 years in age and six inches in height to her Florida-based opponent.

And the Japanese number one quickly found herself struggling against the punishing forehands of Sharapova, who television technology showed was consistently hitting the ball 20mph harder than her opponent.

The Russian played aggressive tennis from the outset, possibly mindful of her tentative approach to her quarter-final at the French Open in which she surprisingly lost to doubles specialist Paolo Suarez.

Sharapova, a product of the famous Nick Bollettieri academy, has yet to learn to play percentage tennis as she mixed winners with unforced errors.

The Japanese woman struck first when her opponent’s accuracy deserted her in the 11th game and Sugiyama served out to take the set 7-5.

The athletic Sugiyama, who had never got past the fourth round in 12 previous visits to Wimbledon, demonstrated exceptional resolve to remain in the rallies against her hard-hitting opponent.

But she was overpowered towards the end of an enthralling second set and quickly faded in the decider as her earlier toil began to take effect.

The shrieks from the young Russian increased in volume as she sought for the breakthrough and Sugiyama’s resistance crumbled in a way that did scant justice to her brave efforts.