‘Unsporting’ Maria Sharapova sets up Serena clash

Maria Sharapova: "Moved around". Picture: Ian Rutherford

Russian Sharapova sealed her 20th grand slam semi-final appearance with a hard-fought 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 victory on Centre Court, and will next face Serena Williams, a player she has not defeated since 2004.

After coming off court against Sharapova, Vandeweghe claimed her opponent had tried to put her off while she served.

At one point the 23-year-old, who had never reached a major quarter-final before, made a complaint to the umpire and added she would speak to Sharapova if the official was too “scared” to do so.

“What I experienced, what I felt from her moving around in between my serving motion was not, I don’t think, sportsmanlike,” Vandeweghe said. “I try to play as fair as I can. When I felt like it wasn’t being reciprocated, that’s when I spoke with the umpire for her to deal with.”

Vandeweghe added: “She said she didn’t believe she was doing it during the motion. I strongly disagreed. Towards the later end of the second set, I said if she has a problem speaking to Maria, if she’s too scared to do it, I had no problem speaking to her.”

Sharapova refused to be drawn on the accusations.

“It is what it is,” she said. “What she said, I’m not going to argue against her words.”

On the other side of the draw, Spain’s first-time grand slam semi-finalist Garbine Muguruza will tackle former Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska, who overcame big-hitting American Madison Keys 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3.

Muguruza beat Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky 7-5, 6-3.