Serena heads semi-final line-up

Wimbledon Championships
Venue: All England Club, London Date: 21 June - 4 July
Coverage: Live on BBC One and Two, HD, Red Button, BBC Sport website (UK only), Radio 5 live, 5 live sports extra; live text commentary online and on mobile phones; watch again on BBC iPlayer Full details of BBC coverage

Wimbledon day 10 preview

By Piers Newbery BBC Sport at Wimbledon

Serena Williams will be expected to take another step towards a fourth Wimbledon title when she heads Thursday's surprise semi-final line-up.

Vera Zvonareva plays Tsvetana Pironkova in the first match on Centre Court at 1300 BST, before defending champion Williams faces Petra Kvitova.

Kvitova faces a daunting task against Williams, who has yet to drop a set.

World number 82 Pironkova shocked Venus Williams in the quarter-finals, while 21st seed Zvonareva beat Kim Clijsters.

Williams thrashed the 20-year-old Kvitova for the loss of just three games at the Australian Open in January but the left-handed Czech has been in superb form on the Wimbledon grass, beating 14th seed Victoria Azarenka and third seed Caroline Wozniacki for the loss of just 11 games.

Asked if she could win the tournament after saving five match points to beat Kaia Kanepi in the quarter-finals, Kvitova said: "I don't think so.

Honestly, I still cannot believe that I reached the semi-finals, this is truly like a dream to me Tsvetana Pironkova

"Serena is a very good player and she won here I don't know how many times. I lost against her in the Australian Open, it was very quick.

"But I'm not favourite, so I can play just my game and enjoy, so we will see."

It would appear that Williams has a higher opinion of Kvitova than the Czech herself, the American saying: "She's a good player. I've actually thought she would get through in the early rounds. I'm not surprised that I'm playing her. She is lefty. She's really, really good."

And Williams was quick to play down any talk that she has had one hand on the trophy after the other leading names went out.

"It's not mine to lose, it's mine to win if I can get it," she said. "There's three other people that are vying to win it. They have just as good a chance as I do."

Most experts had predicted an all-Williams final, but Pironkova dismantled five-time champion Venus's game in the quarter-finals.

"Honestly, I still cannot believe that I reached the semi-finals," said the Bulgarian. "This is truly like a dream to me, and I will try to enjoy it as much as I can.

"I really hope that I have more to offer. I'll just try to do all the right things: to rest well, to prepare well for the next match. I'll just try to do my best and we'll see what happens."

Venus crashes out to Pironkova

Zvonareva won just two games in her only previous match against Pironkova in Moscow last year, but the Russian has been showing the kind of form at Wimbledon that made her a fixture in the top 10 in 2008 and 2009.

"I always believed in myself and I believed I could be here," said Zvonareva. "But obviously when you go through a lot of injuries in your career, it puts a lot of doubts in your head. It is very difficult to come back after an injury. You lose a lot of confidence.

"But I know as soon as I feel 100%, I will be able to play good tennis again. It's just matter of time."

cialis without prescription | online pharmacy without prescription