Unseeded Sabine Lisicki returns a shot to France's Marion Bartoli during their match at Wimbledon yesterday. The German became only the second wildcard entry to reach the women's semifinals at the All England Club.

Sabine Lisicki reached her first grand slam semifinal yesterday by beating 2007 finalist Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1 under the Centre Court roof on another wet day at Wimbledon.

With heavy rain causing a racket as it pelted down on the retractable white cover over the court, Lisicki used drop shots to perfection in the first two sets, becoming only the second wildcard entry to reach the women's semifinals at the All England Club.

"I cannot explain how I feel at the moment," said Lisicki, the first German grand slam semifinalist since Steffi Graf in 1998. "It was just such a tough road back and it's so wonderful to be standing on Centre Court in Wimbledon which I love so much. I'm just so happy."

Lisicki served for the match at 5-4 in the second and held three match points, but Bartoli saved them all. On the second, Lisicki went to her go-to drop shot but put it into the net.

Bartoli eventually broke back - when Lisicki double-faulted for the first time - and then won the tiebreaker.

"I was very disappointed with myself how I played at 5-4, that game, because I missed easily," Lisicki said. "I felt that I was the better player today and I knew I just had to focus and fight again in the third set to win it."

In the third set, Lisicki broke to take a 3-0 lead, and then again to make it 5-1. She won when Bartoli put a forehand into the net.

Lisicki, who finished the match with 52 winners to Bartoli's 12, reached the quarterfinals at the All England Club two years ago but lost to Dinara Safina.

Lisicki survived a scare early in the match, but it had nothing to do with tennis or even her opponent. After serving at 30-15 in the second game of the match, Lisicki shuddered when a loud blast of thunder rang out overhead. She then lost the next two points and the game, but recovered and broke for the second time in three games to take a 2-1 lead.

Only loss

Lisicki is now 3-1 against Bartoli. Her only loss came in the first round at Wimbledon in 2008, a year after Bartoli reached the final here but lost to Venus Williams.

The rain briefly delayed the start of play as the roof was closed. The match on Court 1 between No. 8 Petra Kvitova and Tsvetana Pironkova was still being delayed by rain. The second match was to pit Tamira Paszek against fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka.

But with Centre Court covered, fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova beat Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 6-1 at the main stadium.

On Monday, Venus Williams joined her sister Serena out of the tournament along with world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki on a day of upsets.

First, 13-time major champion Serena lost 6-3, 7-6 (6) to ninth-seeded Bartoli while five-time champion Venus was beaten 6-2, 6-3 by 32nd-seeded Tsvetana Pironkova.

Top seed Wozniacki lost, too, although she's still searching for her first grand slam singles trophy, whereas the Williams sisters own a total of 20.

"Definitely not our best day," Venus said. "I think we both envisioned seeing this day going a little bit different."