No 5 seed Maria Sharapova is favourite to win the ladies singles championship at Wimbledon after defeating Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova 6-1 6-1 yesterday.

Meanwhile wildcard Sabine Lisicki of Germany made a stunning comeback to beat Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-1.

Lisicki is the first German woman to make the semi-finals since Steffi Graf in 1999 and only the second wildcard to reach the last four at Wimbledon.

Lisicki's win was all the more incredible as just one year ago she suffered a severe ankle injury which left her learning to walk again.