Hitting 11 aces, no double faults, and 28 winners, Williams demolished the world’s 50-ranked player in 48 minutes, the fastest Wimbledon semifinal since Lindsay Davenport beat Alexandra Stevenson in just 47 minutes in 1999.
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Vesnina had already scratched from the mixed doubles with partner Bruno Soares on Wednesday night to prepare for her singles semi-final.
“Venus won so many times here and was playing really well”.
“She’s a champion and she’s won so many times here”.
Since winning last year’s Wimbledon title she has proved surprisingly fallible, losing in the semi-finals of the U.S. Open to Roberta Vinci when a calendar Grand Slam loomed. “I will just try to go out there with a lot of confidence and try to play my tennis and do everything I can in the final”.
After denying the Williams sisters a fairytale Wimbledon final match-up, Angelique Kerber will now attempt to again prevent Serena Williams from winning the grand slam title she is desperate for. Venus held her serve only once.
Kerber required slightly longer to beat big sister Venus 6-4 6-4 but the two matches lasted just two hours in total.
Kerber couldn’t be in better form heading into Saturday’s final. “I’m 0-2 this year [Serena lost the Australian and French Open finals] so I’m determined to win one”. It was the quickest semifinal in Wimbledon history.
Kerber set up the showdown after bringing an end to Venus Williams’ golden run.
“It’s just wonderful, to beat Venus in the semis”, said Kerber, who beat Serena in the Australian Open final.
Serena’s demolition of Elena Vesnina in the day’s first semi-final had set up the prospect of a first all-Williams Wimbledon final since 2009. She was in a great mood, and her serve was working really well.
But for the past 1½ weeks, Williams looked once again like a player who opponents need to be anxious about.
At 36, she was the oldest woman in the field at Wimbledon.
She never gave Vesnina a chance to pull off the sort of semifinal stunner that Vinci did last year in NY, stopping Williams from completing the first calendar-year Grand Slam since Graf did it in 1988.
“We’ve played so sporadically the last few years”, she said. First up: Canada’s Milos Raonic bids for his first Grand Slam final against Roger Federer beginning at 8 a.m. ET. Venus was playing well and beat a lot of good players here.
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Serena, a six-time champion at the All England Club, will be first on Centre Court against Elena Vesnina in the semifinals. Following that match, five-time Wimbledon champion Venus will take on Angelique Kerber.
