The American didn’t face a single break point.
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“I think it plays a huge role in this matchup”, Davenport said.
And, adding to the wealth of historic milestones in her sights, Serena remains in the hunt to be the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win a calendar Grand Slam.
So what if the duo went on to contest another 17 games, or that Sharapova burst some eardrums with her ear-splitting shrieks – the result was never in doubt as Williams brokered a 17th successive win over the clueless Russian to set up a final with fresh-faced Spaniard Garbine Muguruza.
For the 20 time in their sure-fire Hall of Fame careers, Williams and Sharapova will play each other with a seat in the Wimbledon finals at stake. Over her career she was won $69,676,428 – almost twice as much as Sharapova. Pitching two successful women against each other in a negative light is something that we love to do to to successful women in a bid to keep them down. “I didn’t get any looks at break points, so that was quite hard”, she said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been this far at Wimbledon“.
With her Spanish opponent serving for the match at 6-2 3-6 5-3 and two points from victory at 40-40, Radwanska inexplicably stopped the next point mid-rally after hearing cries of “out, out” from people in her players’ box who were convinced Muguruza’s backhand had landed behind the baseline.
Only seven-time champion Roger Federer has won more.
She saw a 3-1 lead in the second set disappear as the shot-making Radwanska hit back to level the match and then broke in the first game of the final set.
Photographs emerged of Culture Secretary John Whittingdale in which he appeared to have fallen asleep in the Royal Box during Garbine Muguruza’s victory in the ladies’ semi-final.
“It’s great for her, it’s great for me”.
“I think Serena’s not going to let her do that, no, not in this tournament“. Ex- ballerina and Strictly Come Dancing judge Darcey Bussell and her husband Angus Forbes were also named as guests in the Royal Box, with Olympic sailor Sir Ben Ainslie and House of Commons Speaker John Bercow.
“I don’t feel like I have any pressure going into this match”. It is. Believe it.
Mr Cameron told the England stars on leaving Number 10 “take your earplugs, they’re quite loud”, referring to Sharapova and Williams’ on-court grunting.
She is still formidable – but never against Williams.
It was Muguruza who took the giant leap towards the sport’s upper echelons as she defeated Bacsinszky, a surprise French Open semi-finalist last month, in 86 minutes on Court One.
And make no mistake, the American has every intention of going to the ball.
The duo’s relationship has remained frosty ever since, occasionally turning nasty – as it did when they traded barbs about Sharapova dating Williams’ ex-boyfriend Grigor Dimitrov and the American’s own relationship with her French coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
Sharapova led on serve in the second set but it was an illusion.
The truth is, once she makes it to the second week of majors, Williams becomes Miss Automatic.
With her ball toss causing problems, the Russian served three double faults to hand Williams a crucial early break. The hum that rattled around the stadium was one of barely contained pity. Her second serves were erratic.
But tthose losses come when Serena is playing her “C” game, if that. But Sharapova insisted she was doing nothing out of the ordinary. A lot of players would dissolve in such circumstances. I just think she was playing well.
Williams is in awesome shape.
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Williams has now won 18 of her 20 matches against Sharapova and is through to her 25th grand slam final.
