Tatjana Maria

Tatjana Maria battled back from a set down to beat compatriot Jule Niemeier 4-6 6-2 7-5 and reach the semi-finals of Wimbledon at the age of 34.

Niemeier stopped the rot with a hold of serve to reduce the deficit as her second serve remained a valuable weapon, but another hold and a third break of the set saw Maria level the match at one set all. Maria held to lead for the first time in the match and broke Niemeier for a second time in the second set to lead 3-1 thanks to a massive forehand winner. Maria fought off another break of serve in the third game of the first set as Niemeier missed a break point, but the 22-year-old held serve to restore her two-game lead despite four double faults in her opening three games.

The German mother of two will face either Ons Jabeur or Marie Bouzkova in the last four.

Maria grasped it with authority, holding and then forcing Niemeier to serve to stay in the match. The pair shared a warm embrace at the net after Maria broke in an error-strewn final game that ensured this underdog tale of another unlikely chapter. But the 34-year-old rallied, taking advantage of a lapse in Niemeier’s concentration and then winning the next four games in succession. The second threatened to take on much the same theme, with Niemeier breaking an increasingly frustrated Maria in her opening game. Before cloud nine, though, came a twisting, intense and often anxious struggle that strained the nerves of both players to breaking point. That her likely opponent in the semi-finals is Ons Jabeur has only added to the sense of fantasy.

Mother-of-two Tatjana Maria continued her remarkable run at Wimbledon by securing a maiden semi-final appearance at the All England Club with victory over ...

The early composure of Niemeier was now being tested and a decider was forced after a superb rally where Maria’s brilliant lob was replied with a tweener, but the world number 103 made a volley at the net to take the second. It took her 57 minutes to create a first break point and while that was saved, the next was taken with a volley at the net on her knees. It meant Maria marched into her first major semi-final on her 35th appearance in the main draw of a grand slam to keep defying the odds in SW19.

Tatjana Maria has taken her place in a maiden Grand Slam semi-final continuing her fairytale story at Wimbledon by seeing off compatriot, Jule Niemeier ...

Jelena Ostapenko was a poor sport after a poor performance in her fourth-round defeat to Tatjana Maria at Wimbledon.

“This means also that you always have to keep going,” Maria said. “I mean, of course maybe I shouldn’t have done this,” Ostapenko added. “I’m not going to let it go and say, ‘it’s fine, I lost, and it’s fine’. No, it’s not fine.

Mother-of-two Tatjana Maria overcame German compatriot Jule Niemeier in a three-set thriller on No.1 Court to reach the Wimbledon semifinals, having never ...

Maria on responding to Niemeier's tactics: "I knew a little bit this will happen, so I had this in my mind. Bidding to become the first player to reach the Wimbledon semifinals on her main-draw debut since Alexandra Stevenson in 1999, the 22-year-old took advantage of a nervy start by Maria to break immediately, and did not face a break point during the whole first set. She committed 11 in total, and the eighth opened the door for Maria to bring up break-back in the very next game. "That's the friend who plays every morning with Charlotte, actually," Maria said. She took this momentum into the final game, finding some of her most biting slices to draw errors in response from Niemeier. Maria repeatedly drew gasps from the crowd with her defensive scrambling, seemingly able to get anything that her racquet touched back into play. In Maria's words: "It was a really tough match. No.103-ranked Maria, who hit her career-high of No.46 in November 2017 after returning from her first maternity leave in 2014, is also the fourth-lowest ranked player to reach the Wimbledon semifinals since 1984. Maria, who trailed by a break in both second and third sets, is contesting her 46th Grand Slam (including qualifying). Prior to this fortnight, she had never passed the third round in any of them. Match management: Three previous seeded opponents -- No.26 Sorana Cirstea, No.5 Maria Sakkari and No.12 Jelena Ostapenko -- had attempted to power through Maria's web of slices, and failed. The first was a 17-year-old Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon 2004. Now, the German is a Grand Slam semifinalist after overcoming compatriot Jule Niemeier 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in a 2-hour, 18-minute Wimbledon quarterfinal thriller.

The 34-year-old, who gave birth to youngest daughter Cecilia last April, fought back from a set down to win the all-German contest 4-6 6-2 7-5 in two hours ...

It took her 57 minutes to create a first break point and while that was saved, the next was taken with a volley at the net on her knees. The wide-ranging skillset of world number 97 Niemeier was on full display in the first game of the second set where another break was secured. It meant Maria marched into her first major semi-final on her 35th appearance in the main draw of a grand slam to keep defying the odds in SW19.

Maria beat three seeded players in a row in her run to the quarterfinals, including fifth-seeded Maria Sakkari in the third round and 12th-seeded Jelena ...

I’m only happy that I’m in the semifinal now.” Her best previous performance was reaching the third round in 2015. Maria is making her 10th appearance at the All England Club and has become only the sixth woman in the Open era to reach the Wimbledon semifinals after turning 34. The second match on No. 1 Court will be between ninth-seeded Cam Norrie and David Goffin. Norrie is trying to become only the fourth British man to reach the Wimbledon semifinals in the Open era. She loves my kids,” Maria said. Maria beat three seeded players in a row in her run to the quarterfinals, including fifth-seeded Maria Sakkari in the third round and 12th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, in the fourth round.

Tatjana Maria produced a thrilling comeback against Jule Niemeier to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon. The German star was ranked outside ...

THERE will be two first-time Grand Slam semi-finalists facing off for a spot in the Wimbledon final on Thursday.

But the 23-year-old fought back to break and get herself on the board at 1-4. The Tunisian kept her streak up, breaking again for a 4-0 lead - her eighth game in a row. Having led 40-0, Jabeur threw in a double fault and two errors to get broken and gift the world No 66 the first set 6-3 after 43 minutes. It was the third seed who was broken first, saving the first break point with a drop shot at the end of a thrilling exchange before finding herself 2-3 down. It meant the elder German booked her place in a maiden Grand Slam semi-final at the age of 34, just 15 months after giving birth to her second daughter. But she won just one more game in the second as the world No 103 broke three times to take it 6-2 and force a decider.

Maria gave birth to her second child only last April, and is enjoying a best-ever run at a Grand Slam tournament.

“I'm here, yeah, I'm in the semifinal of Wimbledon, it's crazy, but I'm still a mom. “I guess there are a lot of people who never believed I would come back,” she muses, adding, “Close to me, nobody doubts, was never doubting that I cannot do it. I try to keep normal as much as possible, because that was what makes me proudest is to be a mom.”

Tatjana Maria reached the Wimbledon semifinals after beating compatriot Jule Niemeier on Tuesday. ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/AFP via Getty Images. Wimbledon CNN —.

However, that did little to detract from what was an entertaining and engrossing match, and the crowd responded with a standing ovation as Maria won her first of two match points in the third set. "I'm happy that I could do it, even when I was 4-2 down in the third set," she said. "I kept going and it's getting better and better." But Maria has shown that fighting and scrapping on the court is in her nature. Prior to this year's Wimbledon, Maria had never progressed further than the third round of a grand slam tournament in 34 attempts. That's because her eight-year-old daughter, Charlotte, is a budding tennis star who has training each morning.

Tatjana Maria continued her remarkable run at Wimbledon by securing a maiden semi-final appearance at the All England Club with victory over compatriot Jule ...

Available to download now on - iPhone & iPad and Android A volley sealed an early break for the third seed and another was handed out by Bouzkova when she double-faulted. It's a dream to live this with my family and with my two little girls. 3/5 3/9 "This court is amazing, the crowd are amazing and it's such a pleasure to play here.

Jabeur set up a meeting with her “barbeque buddy” after a hard-fought victory over Marie Bouzkova.

“It’s going to be a great match between us, a lot of respect, for sure. “I think for me that’s the most important in my life, to be a mum of my two kids. I’m here, yeah, I’m in the semi-final of Wimbledon, it’s crazy, but I’m still a mum. I’m really happy for her that she’s getting what she deserves. I will change her Pampers, I mean, everything normal. We keep going even if I play semi-finals.

"It is a dream to live this with my family, with my two little girls. One year ago I just gave birth almost," the tennis pro said. | ITV National News.

I love to be a mother and I love my two kids and to be able to do this together. “It is a dream to live this with my family, with my two little girls. “It’s the best feeling in the world.

Mother-of-two Tatjana Maria continued her remarkable run at Wimbledon by securing a maiden semi-final appearance at the All England Club with victory over ...

The early composure of Niemeier was now being tested and a decider was forced after a superb rally where Maria’s brilliant lob was replied with a tweener, but the world number 103 made a volley at the net to take the second. It took her 57 minutes to create a first break point and while that was saved, the next was taken with a volley at the net on her knees. It meant Maria marched into her first major semi-final on her 35th appearance in the main draw of a grand slam to keep defying the odds in SW19.

Neither Tatjana Maria nor Ons Jabeur had been to a Grand Slam singles semifinal until this week. The close friends will play each other at Wimbledon on ...

“And it’s really been a plus for Tatjana’s game, because by showing things to Charlotte, she had to go back to the basics and that has refreshed her game, and she has built on it. “She’s one of the examples I wish players would look up to,” Jabeur said of Maria. “Because she really suffered to play and win rounds in the Grand Slams and now look at her. She has a strong, relatively flat first serve, and her ability to hit heavily sliced strokes off both wings keeps the ball particularly low on grass. Maria won a WTA 250 event in Bogotá, Colombia, this season on clay: her second singles title on the main tour. Williams and Maria exchanged tips when Williams returned to play at Wimbledon this year at age 40 after nearly a year away from the tour. “I was one of the first ones after Kim,” Maria said. But at this wild and often wide-open Wimbledon, she will now face her close friend Ons Jabeur on Thursday for a spot in the final. “I always believed in this, but to be now here in this spot. But Jabeur, a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon last year, already has been in close range of such tennis success. This is uncharted territory for both, and Jabeur, a 27-year-old Tunisian with an eye-catching all-court game, has quite a story of her own. “I love Tatjana so much, and her family is really amazing,” Jabeur said. Neither Tatjana Maria nor Ons Jabeur had been to a Grand Slam singles semifinal until this week.

Jabeur set up a meeting with her “barbeque buddy” after a hard-fought victory over Marie Bouzkova.

“It’s going to be a great match between us, a lot of respect, for sure. “I think for me that’s the most important in my life, to be a mum of my two kids. I’m here, yeah, I’m in the semi-final of Wimbledon, it’s crazy, but I’m still a mum. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. I’m really happy for her that she’s getting what she deserves. I will change her Pampers, I mean, everything normal.