Venus is a five-time Wimbledon champion but hadn’t been to the semifinals since she was the runner-up to Serena seven years ago.
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Kerber beat the younger Williams sister in the Australian Open final for her first major title.
Kerber’s clash with Williams is a repeat of this year’s Australian Open final.
Kerber had the better day in Melbourne winning 6-4 3-6 6-4 in a hard fought battle. At 36, Williams might have missed her last opportunity at a Wimbledon title.
Williams looked exhausted after her efforts of the past 10 days, sighing often, shaking her head at times and breathing harder than usual after many points.
Vesnina would secure a couple of holds towards the end of the set, but Serena was just too efficient.
“I think I played a lot of good points today”, said Angelique Kerber in her semifinal press conference. “It’s always tough to play against Venus”. “I was trying to go for every shot and move well”.
Asked whether it was just the Williams serve, that offered up only three points on Thursday, which was so tough, she said the American veteran has a cache of other weapons.
“I think right now I’m a little bit more relaxed than there”. “My serve was not the best at the beginning of the match”.
Women’s s-finals: Angelique Kerber (Ger) bt Venus Williams (USA) 6-4 6-4, Serena Williams (USA) bt Elena Vesnina (Rus) 6-2 6-0.
Kerber beat Venus Williams 6-4 6-4 in second semi-final after Serena wiped out unseeded Russian Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-0 in just 49 minutes.
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. She was in a great mood, and her serve was working really well.
The top-seeded titleholder was even more ruthless in the second set, conceding a meagre five points and wrapping up victory with her 29th victor.
But for the past 1½ weeks, Williams looked once again like a player who opponents need to be anxious about.
Perhaps the accumulated court time during the past two weeks simply took a toll on Venus, who revealed in 2011 that she has Sjongren’s syndrome, which can cause fatigue and joint pain. Williams had 4 aces to 1 for Vesnina.
“If you happen to write a short article, you think you don’t deserve equal pay?” she told the journalist asking.
“I prefer the words “one of the greatest athletes of all time”. “I feel really confident and I feel really good”.
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Should Venus get through against Kerber, it would set up a fifth all-Williams final at the All England Club and 28th career meeting in total.
