Elena Vesnina of Russian Federation serves to Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia during their women’s singles match on day nine of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Tuesday, July 5, 2016.
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“I don’t think about that because you can’t change what happens”, she told reporters.
There’s something regal, something inscrutable about Venus Williams.
Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic returns to Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic during their men’s singles match on day nine of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Tuesday, July 5, 2016.
“This has been my life, what can I say?” she also said.
The Williams sisters are the two oldest women in the top 16 Wimbledon seeds, among whom the average age is 27. She played well, fought hard in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
“I think we are both really good returners”. Serena, meanwhile, meets the unseeded Elena Vesnina, who downed soon-to-be bride Dominika Cibulkova 6-2 6-2 to land in her maiden grand slam singles semifinal.
Vesnina’s victory ensured that Cibulkova can get married as planned on Saturday, the day of the women’s final.
What once was familiar territory is where the 36-year-old Venus is treading again at the All England Club, five times a champion here, but not into the final four of any Grand Slam since the 2010 U.S. Open.
Moreover, for the last five years she has been afflicted by a debilitating auto-immune disease that at times reduced her to a shadow of the person who lit up Wimbledon five times as champion in eight years.
All that changed after the Slovak won her maiden grass-court title at Eastbourne that preceded her run to the quarter-finals here.
Kerber rates her chances of beating the older Williams at 50:50.
The match featured 13 breaks of serve but Kerber was the more aggressive and deserved the victory.
Kerber now has 33 match wins this year, joint-best with Cibulkova.
But Venus hadn’t lost to a player ranked as low as Shvedova since the 2005 French Open and, in her first Wimbledon quarter-final since 2010, the American showed she still has the game to grind opponents into submission. Vesnina hopes to make her first career grand slam final.
Then little sis came along, caught big sis and became the best woman’s player on the planet.
Williams reigned supreme at Wimbledon for nearly a decade as the American star made it to the final eight times between 2000 and 2009.
Playing with her left thigh taped, Venus moved quite well, covering the court with speed and flawless timing, offering up enough defense and waiting for Shvedova’s miscues.
Serena never faced a break point Tuesday, winning the last three games of each set to extend her record against Pavlyuchenkova to 6-0. Eighth-seeded Venus was paired against Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan on No. 1 Court.
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Serena will face Russia’s Elena Vesnina and Venus will take on Germany’s Angelique Kerber. No. 28 Sam Querrey, No. 10 Thomas Berdych vs.
