Wimbledon Day 7 - Serena OUT and Day 8 Predictions!

Lisicki continued her giant-killing at Wimbledon.

The reigning French Open champion, 2 losses on the year, defending Wimbledon champion, 34 match win streak, 5-time Wimbledon champion, 16-time Grand Slam champion, and current world #1. Just some of the achievements of Serena Williams. But that didn't matter to Wimbledon-loving, big hitter Sabine Lisicki. A gutsy and inconsistent performance saw Lisicki steamroll Serena in the first set 6-2, and go up 1-0 in the second. Then she lost 9 straight games to go down 0-3 in the third. Everybody had written off Lisicki by then, but then she pulled a stunning comeback taking out Serena 6-2, 1-6, 6-4. After winning 9 straight games, Serena seemed to lose concentration, unable to make decisions and making uncharacteristic errors, including a missed overhead that came Lisicki the decisive break at 4-all in the 3rd set. Despite Serena's 34 match win streak, this upset didn't surprise me that much as Lisicki as taken out the reigning French Open champ in her 3 previous appearances (Kuznetsova 2009, Li 2011, Sharapova 2012, and now Serena 2013; she was out with an ankle injury in 2010). Her quarterfinal opponent will be a similarly big-hitting, big-serving player, Kaia Kanepi who knocked out the last Brit in the women's draw, Laura Robson. Coming back from injury, Kanepi gutted out a tough straight-setter needing 5 match points to close it out 7-6(8-6), 7-5. In the only quarterfinal that stayed with the seeds, 4th seed Agnieszka Radwanska will take on 6th seed Li Na for a second consecutive Wimbledon semifinal. Radwanska need 3 sets to tough out the grass court specialist Tsvetana Pironkova while Li swatted aside fellow 30-something Roberta Vinci 6-2, 6-0. Sloane Stephens also needed 3 sets to end the fairytale run of Monica Puig 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. She will face Marion Bartoli, who along with Kirsten Flipkens, have not dropped a set the entire tournament. Flipkens will face former champ Petra Kvitova who edged Carla Suarez Navarro 7-6(7-5), 6-3.

(23)Sabine Lisicki GER vs Kaia Kanepi EST: Lisicki in 3 sets
Can Lisicki back up the upset of Serena Williams? The other giant killers have not and Kanepi is a very solid opponent. But something about Lisicki and Wimbledon just say Lisicki in 3 up-and-down sets
(4)Agnieszka Radwanska POL vs (6)Li Na CHN: Radwanska in 2 sets
There is absolutely no pattern in the rivalry between Radwanska and Li, which Li leads 6-4. So I picked Radwanska solely on the fact that she is the defending finalist and the higher seed. However, don't bet on it!
(17)Sloane Stephens USA vs (15)Marion Bartoli FRA: Bartoli in 3 sets
Both have navigated matchups against tricky unseeded opponents, though Bartoli has not dropped a set while Stephens has been pushed to 3 sets in 3 matches. I am a big fan of Stephens, but she has been quite lucky to get this far with those lapses in her game. Bartoli is a former Wimbledon finalist and will battle it out with Stephens for a spot in the top 10. 50-50 for me.
(8)Petra Kvitova CZE vs (20)Kirsten Flipkens BEL: Kvitova in 2 sets
With the unpredictability of Kvitova, this is a mighty hard one to choose. She can dish out a double bagel or get double bageled at any time. Flipkens has not dropped a set and upset Kvitova on hardcourts this year. However, Kvitova has not lost to anyone but Serena Williams in Wimbledon since 2010 and is my pick for another Wimbledon title.