LONDON, July 3, (AFP): Serena Williams produced a champion’s display to knock out title-holder Petra Kvitova as winning machine Angelique Kerber ousted Sabine Lisicki in the Wimbledon women’s quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Kvitova tipped Williams to win a fifth Wimbledon crown after the US sixth seed used her experience and cool nerve to dethrone the Czech with a 6-3, 7-5 victory.
Meanwhile Kerber emerged victorious in the all-German clash with Lisicki after blowing four match points, the eighth seed triumphing 6-3, 6-7 (7/9), 7-5 to notch a tour-leading 45th win of the year.
Williams will take on either Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, the Belarusian second seed, or the unseeded, in-form Austrian Tamira Paszek in Thursday’s semi-finals. Kerber faces either Polish third seed Agnieszka Radwanska or Maria Kirilenko, the Russian 17th seed, for a place in Saturday’s final.
Kvitova believes Williams will now go on and win the tournament.
“I think so,” the Czech fourth seed said. “It is very difficult (to beat her). I can’t say impossible. She’s human.

“That’s why she’s the great champion, because she knows what she needs to play in the important points. So I think that it’s really tough to beat her.
“It was great match from both of us, and she just served much better than me. There were some really important points that I could have played better. That was the difference.”
Williams said she had to step up a gear on Centre Court to get past the big-hitting Czech.
“You can’t play a defending Wimbledon champion or Grand Slam champion and not elevate your game. I had to weed out the riff-raff and just get serious,” the 30-year-old said.
“It just feels like a good win. She was playing very well. I don’t know if it was more about dethroning or going out there and playing the match and doing the best that I could.
“I really prayed about it, just to have calmness of mind and just go forward and do the best I can do, whether that’s winning or losing.”
Lisicki, the 15th seed, beat world number one Maria Sharapova in the previous round and showed plenty of the competitiveness that got her to the last eight.
But eighth seed Kerber got the better of her in a nervy encounter to reach her first Wimbledon semi-final.

It was a roller-coaster affair for Kerber who squandered four match points.
Lisicki saved two match points in the 10th game of the second set and another in the tie-break.
In the decider, there were six breaks of serve in 11 games before Kerber finally won through to claim her fifth win in five meetings against Lisicki, a semi-finalist here last year.
“I’m very happy that I won this very incredible match,” said Kerber, who was making her Centre Court debut.
“I’m happy to be in the semis this year for the first time. She saved the match points but she played very well in these moments.
“It was unbelievable. Sabine played great tennis and I needed to be at my best to beat her,” said Kerber, who was making her debut on Centre Court.
Either Azarenka or Radwanska will become the new world number one after Wimbledon depending on their performances, thanks to Lisicki knocking out Sharapova.
Radwanska and Kirilenko will have to finish their quarter-final on Wednesday after enduring a rain-affected, on-off day on Court One.
They started their match at 2:20pm local time (1320GMT), but had to sit out two lengthy delays before a halt was called just before 8pm (1900GMT) with the pair locked at 4-4 in the deciding set.