But Kerber, who overcame Serena’s sister Venus 6-4 6-4 in Thursday’s semi, is hoping to follow in her compatriot’s footsteps by becoming the first German woman to win at the All England Club since 1996.
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Angelique Kerber proved to be the ultimate party-pooper as she ended the run of the five-times champion Venus Williams with a 6-4, 6-4 victory to reach the Wimbledon final for the first time.
Serena Williams claims she is free of the nerves that have prevented her winning a 22nd grand slam title after the American demolished Elena Vesnina to reach her ninth Wimbledon final.
Her ruthless 6-2 6-0 thrashing of the unseeded Russian in just 48 minutes was the quickest- semi-final win this century.
World number one Serena Williams will enter her 27th career Grand Slam Final after taking down world no. 50 Elena Vesnina. “Every point you have to fight for”.
Kerber wins the first two games of the second set for an early 2-0 lead. “I know that I have to play my best tennis to beat her in the final here”.
If Venus could beat Kerber, Serena said, “It would be great”.
Serena had already beaten Vesnina in the singles semi-finals, while Venus was beaten by Angelique Kerber.
She dropped only three points on serve in an embarrassingly one-sided 49 minutes – crunching down one 160 kph delivery that topped the women’s speed charts at this year’s tournament.
When asked about tomorrow’s tussle with Serena, left-hander Kerber said: “I will just try to go out there like in Australia, try to show her, okay, I’m here to win the match as well”.
It was the shortest semifinal match in the tournament in 17 years, with Vesnina saying afterward that, “I felt like I had no chance today”. “That’s what makes me Serena”.
“I knew she was playing very well at the moment so I was ready, trying to move well and go for it and everything worked”.
Looking ahead to events like the Olympic Games and the US Open, she described her fortnight here as “a great start” to the northern summer.
Williams is now 9-1 in Wimbledon semifinals, with her only loss at that stage coming against older sister Venus in 2000.
Wimbledon was the last Grand Slam to introduce equal pay in 2007, while the French, US and Australian Slams introduced it in 2006, 1973 and 2001 respectively.
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. “For me, it’s about holding the trophy”.
When is the men’s singles final at Wimbledon? .
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Vesnina, a three-times grand slam doubles victor, had battled through to a first major singles semi but her challenge crumbled quickly as dropped her opening two service games.
