Mimi Xu and Mika Stojsavljevic believe they can follow in the footsteps of British junior hero Henry Searle and clinch a memorable girls’ doubles title at Wimbledon.
The Welsh and London duo stunned first seeds Alena Kovackova and Laura Samson in the quarter-finals with a brilliant 6-4 7-5 triumph on Court 12.
Searle, 17 last year, became the first British player to grab boys’ singles glory for 61 years last summer after writing his name in the All England Club history books.
That inspired all other British junior players and Xu, 16, hopes channelling inspiration from the Wolverhampton player can propel her and Stojsavljevic all the way.
She said: “What Henry did was amazing last year – he worked so hard and it really inspired us.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to follow in his footsteps and head in the same direction.
“Our communication, teamwork and energy was great – in the key moments we were really good.
“Our first win together was in Beijing last year – we know what our strengths and weaknesses are together.”
Stojsavljevic, 15, added: “We feel amazing – we played really well together and brought the energy, so it’s definitely good.
“We knew going in we were a really good partnership, and we complement each other really well.”
Xu and Stojsavljevic both exited the girls’ singles in the second round but have been on red-hot form together in the doubles competition.
And after stunning the Czech first seeds on Friday, they will next face fellow Czech
Julie Pastikova and German Julia Stusek for a place in the final.
Stojsavljevic, who stunningly reached the quarter-finals of the girls’ singles draw as a wildcard aged just 14 last summer, said: “We never go in with the expectation that we have to win, but we’re enjoying it and embracing the crowd and energy here.”
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