Amelie Mauresmo of France will meet Maria Sharapova of Russia in the semifinals of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, while Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters will face off in an all-Belgian duel in the other final-four match.
The fourth-seeded Sharapova earned the first semifinal slot Tuesday, as she defeated seventh-seeded countrywoman Elena Dementieva, 6-1, 6-4, in the quarterfinals. On Thursday the 2004 Wimbledon champion faces world number-one and top-seed Amelie Mauresmo, who got by number-nine Anastasia Myskina of Russia, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Third-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, who is trying to win the only Grand Slam title that has eluded her, beat French qualifier Severine Bremond, 6-4, 6-4. That sets up a semifinal matchup against second-seeded countrywoman Kim Clijsters, who eliminated Li Na of China, 6-4, 7-5. Li was the first Chinese player to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam.
Wednesday is men's quarterfinal day at Wimbledon. Top-seeded world number-one Roger Federer of Switzerland faces a tall challenge as he takes on one-meter-95 Mario Ancic.
The Croatian was the last player to beat Federer at the All England Club with a first-round victory in 2002. Federer hasn't lost on grass since, winning an Open-era record 45 consecutive matches on the surface.
Federer or Ancic will face the winner of the match between number-14 Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic and unseeded Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman.
Second-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain faces number-22 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in a matchup between two left-handed players. Both are making their first Wimbledon quarterfinal appearance.
Sixth-seeded 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia will be challenged by number-18 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, and AP .
