The 21-year-old Spaniard went down to a 6-4, 6-4 loss which allowed Williams to secure a sixth Wimbledon title and 21st Grand Slam.
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Serena Williams of the United States returns a shot to Garbine Muguruza of Spain, during the women’s singles final at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Saturday July 11, 2015.
Williams increased the pressure and, when Muguruza served a double fault to bring up set point, the top seed smashed a forehand victor before pumping her fist in celebration.
But it is her legacy rather than her bank balance that concerns Williams these days and she now holds all four Grand Slam titles at the same time – the rare “Serena Slam” she last achieved in 2002-03.
The fight finally returned to Williams as she won the next four games in a row.
Lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish for the first time since 2012 also leaves Williams needing only to defend the US Open to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to claim a calendar Grand Slam.
But what has tennis fans on the edge of their seats is the prospect of yet another milestone for Williams – a true Grand Slam, by winning all four major championships in one calendar year. Playing the best tennis of the match, she broke Williams twice to narrow the lead 4-5.
“I honestly wouldn’t have thought previous year after winning the U.S. Open I would win the Serena Slam at all”, said the world number one. She’s world No. 1.
“She can keep going and keep winning”, Fernandez said.
Serena also revealed her lucky charm for the tournament – a dress she had packed to wear at the annual champions’ ball in case she ended up with the trophy. When you can play as well now as you did before, arguably better, it’s pretty hard to stop, ‘ said the three-time Wimbledon champion.
Williams is chasing a second career grand slam and the 20-time major victor branded the defeat past year as “eye-opening”.
Which, for her rivals hoping that at almost 34 the American will become blase about collecting trophies, is bad news.
Williams replied with an mad ace and screamed “Where have you been?” to her trusty weapon.
“Of all the grand slams, it was the one I hadn’t won in a while”. “I would have preferred it if I’d had tickets to the men’s final tomorrow, or if it went to three sets”, said Damian McFadden, who lives in Wimbledon and had seats in Centre Court.
‘The history of tying Martina (Navratilova) and Chrissie (Evert) previous year was making her a little nervous, but she is literally playing against history and I’ve never seen her as focused as she’s been the last couple of years.
Muguruza said she would play aggressively from the start.
Williams’ fierce grimace and clenched fist after breaking in the fourth game of the second set suggested the finish line was in sight. “When she feels the taste of losing, she finds so much strength, and then she can raise her level”.
She was totally dominant until, serving at 5-1, she was broken to love. I was like, Okay, is that the match? Muguruza, who had won just one match at Wimbledon before this year, came out firing as Williams, in her 25th major final, served three double faults in the first game. After the two players hugged at the net, Williams hopped up and down on the side of the court with her arms above her head. This continued into early on in the second set, with her going up 3-1.
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Muguruza was more than pleased to accept the compliment. By the time New York came around [where she won her 18th major] I just wanted to get to the quarter-finals.
