Semi-final Beckons for Russian Sensation

It is unusual for the Williams sisters not to be hogging the Wimbledon headlines but this year SW19 has a new darling in the shape of Russian sensation Maria Sharapova

The 17-year-old 13th seed has won through her quarter-final match against 11th seed Ai Sugiyama, of Japan, 5-7, 7-5, 6-1.

Early on it seemed as if the Sharapova story would end prematurely with the experienced Sugiyama returning well and demonstrating agility around the court.

However, the young Russian dug deep in the second set to level the match. In the third set Sharapova was simply too powerful for her opponent, as she raced to victory with some thumping cross-court forehands.

The new star on the block will now meet the experienced Lindsay Davenport, who secured a semi-final berth after winning with consummate ease over Karolina Sprem, in Thursday's semi-final on court one.

The fifth seed was rarely troubled by the 19-year-old Croatian, who had shocked Wimbledon by defeating Venus Williams in the second round.

Having coped so admirably with Venus's power shots last week, many thought the unseeded Sprem would provide Davenport with more of a challenge. However, the 1999 champion conceded only four games in her 6-2, 6-2 win.

Top seed Serena Williams has continued her march towards yet another Wimbledon final after her fourth-round triumph over the unseeded Tatiana Golovin of France, 6-2, 6-1.

Golovin briefly threatened to make a game of it when she broke Williams's serve in the opening game of the second set. But from then on the defending champion hit booming 120mph serves which proved too hot for Golovin to handle and the tie was over inside 55 minutes.

Jennifer Capriati's victory over tenth seed Nadia Petrova has set up a mouthwatering all-American quarter-final with Serena Williams.

Capriati, the No7 seed, overcame the Russian with relative ease to win 6-4, 6-4.

Ninth seed Paola Suarez came from a set down to book a quarter-final date with Amelie Mauresmo following her 4-6, 6-0, 6-2, victory over Rita Grande on court 13.

The World No11 from Argentina reached the semi-finals of this year's French Open and needed all of her big-match experience to recover from the early setback against an opponent who looked as happy at the net as on the baseline.

However, Grande, ranked 103 in the world, lost some of her early-match spark after losing the second set to love and it was no surprise when Suarez closed out the decider with some brilliant serve-volley play.

Amelie Mauresmo has become the third seeded player to get through to the quarter finals after despatching the veteran Italian Silvia Farina Elia in straight sets.

Mauresmo, the fourth seed, has yet to drop a set at this year's championships, but she needed nearly an hour to wrap up the opening set 7-5 against the No14 seed.

The Frenchwoman, who has never lost in four meetings with the 32-year-old Italian, had no such problems in the second set as she won the match comfortably 7-5, 6-3.

The world No4 will play either ninth seed Paola Suarez or Rita Grande in the last eight.

Women's singles, quarter-final results:

(5) Lindsay Davenport (USA) bt Karolina Sprem (Cro) 6-2, 6-2

(13) Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt (+) (11) Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) 5-7, 7-5, 6-1

Fourth round results:

(4) Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt (14) Silvia Farina Elia (Ita) 7-5, 6-3

(1) Serena Williams (USA) bt Tatiana Golovin (Fra) 6-2 6-1

(7) Jennifer Capriati (USA) bt (+) (10) Nadia Petrova (Rus) 6-4, 6-4

(9) Paola Suarez (Arg) bt Rita Grande (Ita) 4-6, 6-0, 6-2