London, England (SportsNetwork.com) - Rising stars Simona Halep and Eugenie Bouchard will meet in the semifinals at Wimbledon after winning quarterfinal matches in straight sets on Wednesday.
The third-seeded French Open runner-up Halep, who trailed 1-4 in the opening set, won the last 11 games to beat last year's Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki, the 19th seed, 6-4, 6-0 in 57 minutes on the famed Centre Court.
"She had 4-1 and then I came very well back," Halep said. "I played my best today and I was enjoying every moment because it was incredible on Centre Court."
The German Lisicki, who is now 1-2 in her career Wimbledon semis, lost to France's Marion Bartoli in last year's finale.
The 13th-seeded Canadian Bouchard reached her third straight Grand Slam semifinal with a 6-3, 6-4 upset victory over ninth-seeded German left-hander Angelique Kerber at the All England Club.
Bouchard was in control throughout against Kerber, who ousted French Open champion Maria Sharapova on Tuesday.
"I was really trying to stay in the moment," Bouchard said. "I knew I couldn't think ahead and things like that and that's what I've been working on for a while now to try to stay mentally in the moment. I few bad errors but at the same time I hit a few good aggressive shots and that's my game."
The 22-year-old Halep and 20-year-old Bouchard have reached at least the quarterfinals at all three Grand Slams so far this year -- the only players to have done so.
Bouchard is the only woman to reach the semis at all three majors in 2014.
"I'm just excited to be in the semis again and I want to go one step further for sure," Bouchard said.
The graceful Halep is the first Romanian woman to get this far at the All England Club since the Open era began in 1968. Bouchard, who hasn't dropped a set in five matches, is the first-ever Canadian woman to reach the Wimbledon semis.
Bouchard is 15-2 at the Slams this year.
Halep is 1-0 versus Bouchard, with the win coming at Indian Wells back in March.
Thursday's other semifinal will pit sixth-seeded Petra Kvitova against 23rd- seeded fellow Czech left-hander Lucie Safarova. Kvitova titled here in 2011 and was also a semifinalist in 2010. Safarova will perform in her first-ever Grand Slam semi in her 37th major event.
The formidable 24-year-old Kvitova is a perfect 5-0 lifetime against the 27- year-old Safarova, with four of the meetings coming this year already, including a win on grass in Eastbourne just two weeks ago.
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