After Williams needed all of 48 minutes to overwhelm Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-0 at the All England Club, older sister Venus failed to join in the family fun, losing to Kerber 6-4, 6-4 in Thursday’s second semifinal.
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“I wasn’t seeing his serves anymore”, Federer said. “I will go out there like in Australia, trying to show her I’m here to win the match”, Kerber told reporters.
“I learned so much from that match”, she said.
Djokovic later apologised for his comments however, saying ‘I don’t make any differences between the genders.
Earlier, a Champagne cork popped somewhere on Centre Court four games into Serena’s semifinal and while it was a tad premature, her 6-2, 6-0 thrashing of Elena Vesnina suggested she could be celebrating something special tomorrow.
After progressing to the Wimbledon grand final on Thursday, Williams wasn’t accepting any backhanders about her athletic merit from the media.
“I played a lot of great opponents here and had a lot of tough matches”, she said.
“I met her few times”.
Didn’t necessarily look that way at the outset against Venus, who at 36 was the oldest major semifinalist since Martina Navratilova was 37 at the All England Club in 1994.
“If you’re going to cry and be insane after every loss, I think your nerves will be dead by the end of your career”, she said. “I don’t talk about that anymore”, she snapped.
Williams didn’t need to make any adjustments in the semifinals, yet the likelihood is that Saturday will be more complicated.
Despite looking emotionally and physically drained by her longest run at Wimbledon for seven years, Venus didn’t throw in the towel.
“I can’t believe I’m in the final this year. That’s why I’m so happy to reach my first Wimbledon final”, Kerber said. “I think we were both returning very well at the beginning of the first set”. For the second straight year, Williams has reached three Grand Slam finals, an accomplishment in itself.
Serena, playing in her 32nd Grand Slam semi-final, blasted last-four debutant Vesnina off the sun-kissed Centre Court in front of Prince William’s wife Kate watching from up in the Royal Box. I think (sister) Venus is actually pushing me, and we’re on the tennis court.
Besides playing a leading role in transforming the fortunes of Serena Williams since they teamed up in 2012, the suave Frenchman operates a tennis academy in France and is a sought-after television analyst.
Yet, if there were some who desperately hoped that it wasn’t an impossible mission, then a left-handed German who stunned Serena to win the Australian Open in January this year – Angelique Kerber – proved that the more seemingly exotic and unrealistic the dream is, the sooner it dies. If Serena had a bit of a trouble against Christina McHale in the 2nd round, Kerber delivered a shiny performance still without dropping a single set. Her Nike sneakers are printed with the years she had previously won.
Vesnina was equally adamant that she and her fellow women players deserve equal rewards. Especially since the Australian final match-up is returning, but as a grass court version in London.
The eighth seed felt she had given the semi-final against Kerber her best shot.
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If she can cause another upset against six-time champion Serena, Kerber would become the first German woman to win Wimbledon since Steffi Graf in 1996.
