Sabine Lisicki, Marion Bartoli, Kirsten Flipkens: Rising from adversity and making it into an unlikely semifinals field

Last year, Kirsten Flipkens could not enter Wimbledon qualifying because her ranking dropped to No. 262 when she was sidelined two months with life-threatening blood clots in her legs.

Three years ago, Sabine Lisicki had to learn how to walk again when an ankle injury forced her to miss five months when her career was on the rise.

Earlier this year, Marion Bartoli made the difficult decision to fire her father as her coach, then spent months trying to find the right new one.

On Thursday, these women will be playing in the Wimbledon semifinals. Who needs stars when the tournament has these compelling women?

Before Tuesday's quarterfinals began, one thing was certain: For the first time since the 2011 Australian Open, the women's semifinals at a major would be without at least one of the top three players: Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka or Maria Sharapova.

Instead, No. 15 Bartoli will play No. 20 Flipkens, and No. 23 Lisicki will play No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska, last year's runner-up.

"If you would have told me in the beginning of the tournament who was going to be with the last four, I would never say the four who are still in, actually," said Flipkens, a 27-year-old Belgian. "I mean, yeah, OK, Agnieszka. But the other three are a little bit of a surprise."

Flipkens acknowledged that she was the most surprising of all, and few would argue. She was the only one playing in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

But Flipkens was a champion here before, winning the girl's championship in 2003 on her way to being the top junior player.

Then injuries started piling up. The year after winning at Wimbledon, she had a back injury that doctors said should have ended her career. There was wrist surgery in 2010. In March 2012, blood clots were discovered in her legs, and a doctor told her that without treatment, her next airplane flight could kill her.

"I'm just the kind of person that doesn't like to break, and I keep on fighting back every time," Flipkens said.

Shortly afterward, her financing was cut by her tennis federation because of her low ranking. She relied on the support of friends like Kim Clijsters, at whose academy Flipkens trains.

"She's been there for me through the good and through the bad times," Flipkens said. "Of course, I have to thank her for still believing in me."

In the past year, Flipkens has reached three quarterfinals, three semifinals and two finals, winning her first WTA event last fall in Quebec. She arrived at Wimbledon as the No. 20 seed, achieving her highest career ranking in June.

The milestones have not stopped. On Tuesday, Flipkens, known for her glasses and strong net play, defeated an ailing eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

"Still drying my eyes," Clijsters wrote on Twitter after the match. "So proud of how @FlipperKF handled the big occasion for the first time!" For Flipkens, the big occasion was made easier by her difficult road to get there.

"I think winning or losing a tennis match doesn't make a big difference," she said.

That understanding also came to Lisicki after her ankle injury in 2010.

"Three years ago when I couldn't walk, I had to learn how to walk again, and that made me appreciate every single moment out there a lot more," said Lisicki, a 23-year-old German. "That's why I don't let anybody take that away from me."

A day after ousting the overwhelming favorite Serena Williams, Lisicki quickly bounced back and deftly defeated Kaia Kanepi, 6-3, 6-3, to reach the Wimbledon semifinals for the second time in three years.

The average ranking of Lisicki's opponents so far is 21, and it will not be easier in the semifinals. Radwanska survived a riveting battle with sixth-seeded Li Na, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-1.

Radwanska's previous two matches took more than two hours, and Tuesday's lasted nearly three, with two interruptions by rain for 42 minutes.

Li served for the first set at 5-4 and had four set points, including one where she appeared to hit an ace, but it was called out. She chose not to use a challenge, which would have shown the ball was in. Radwanska broke Li and took the set in a tiebreaker.

Then came the first rain delay, and Li recovered to take the second set, winning the last four games.

Radwanska took a medical timeout to have her legs massaged and her right thigh taped. She broke Li in the first game of the third set before the second rain delay, but she needed eight match points to put away Li.

"This is the quarterfinal of the Grand Slam, so I was really pushing myself even 200 percent to play till the end, fight till the end," said Radwanska, a 24-year-old from Poland.

Bartoli's match with the 17th-seeded American Sloane Stephens on Court 1 was more awkwardly disrupted by rain. Play stopped with Stephens serving at deuce, behind by 4-5 in the first set.

When play resumed more than two hours later, Bartoli won nine consecutive points to take the first set and get an early break in the second, which featured eight consecutive breaks of serve. Bartoli, a finalist here in 2007, was more solid down the stretch to win, 6-4, 7-5. For that, she credited her father, who had coached since she was 6.

"He has always been my strength to really be able to focus mentally and stay strong no matter what is happening," she said.

Seeking a change at 28, Bartoli parted ways professionally with her father in March. She was coached briefly by the former champion Jana Novotna, but most recently has worked with coaches with the French tennis federation.

This unusual foursome will take the court Thursday, none of whom have won a Grand Slam title. Lisicki and Radwanska have known each other since juniors.

While Lisicki and Radwanska are old foes, Flipkens and Bartoli have never played each other.

"Tennis is kind of a crazy game, and now I am playing Kirsten Flipkens to be in the final of Wimbledon," Bartoli said. "So it's also very unexpected, but that's also the magic of it."

© 2013, The New York Times News Service