Serena Williams on Tuesday survived a major scare before sealing her 11th Wimbledon semi-final appearance, while Angelique Kerber remains the seven-time champion’s main title rival after the German joined her in the last four.
Williams was in danger of a stunning quarter-final exit after world No. 52 Camila Giorgi became the first player in this year’s tournament to take a set off the former world No. 1.
However, Williams bludgeoned her way out of trouble, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to stay on course for an eighth All England Club triumph.
Photo: EPA
It was Williams’ 100th career main draw victory on grass.
The 36-year-old is today to play German 13th seed Julia Goerges for a place in Saturday’s final.
“I knew after the first set, ‘all right, let’s go three sets.’ I’ll just keep fighting,” Williams said. “This is only my fourth tournament back, so I don’t feel pressure. I don’t feel I have to win this. I still have a long way to go to be where I was.”
Williams is the first woman since 2013 to reach a Grand Slam semi-final without facing a top-40 ranked opponent.
Williams is into the 35th Grand Slam semi-final of her career and her first since winning last year’s Australian Open. A 23-time major winner, she is hoping to join a select group of women who have won Grand Slams after becoming mothers.
Goerges advanced to the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 win against Dutch 20th seed Kiki Bertens.
Goerges had suffered five successive opening-round defeats at the All England Club before this year. It also took her until her 42nd Grand Slam appearance to finally get through to the last four at a major.
With Kerber also in the last four, it is the first time two German women have made the semi-finals of a Grand Slam since Steffi Graf and Anke Huber at the 1993 French Open.
Kerber takes on Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in the other semi-final.
In the third round of the mixed doubles, Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Ivan Dodig of Croatia took just 71 minutes to complete a 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Heather Watson of Britain and Henri Kontinen of Finland.
The third seeds did not face a single break point and converted two of five, winning 80 percent of the points contested on their second serve to advance to the quarter-final against either fifth seeds Chan Hao-ching, Latisha Chan’s younger sister, and Nikola Mektic of Croatia or ninth seeds Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Michael Venus of New Zealand.
Additional reporting by staff writer
World No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying yesterday eased past her Thai opponent to advance to the second round of the Toyota Thailand Open. The Taiwanese star toppled world No. 46 Supanida Katethong 21-16, 21-11 in 29 minutes at the Impact Arena in Bangkok. “I think I played OK today. I am feeling a little better than last week,” Tai said. Tomorrow, Tai faces Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung. The two have faced each other six times, with Tai beating the world No. 21 in all six matches. Tai on Sunday reached the final of the Yonex Thailand Open before losing decisively against Carolina Marin of Spain.
LOOKING TO REPEAT: World No. 7 Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin advanced to the round-of-16 at the Toyota Thailand Open, after winning the Yonex Thailand Open on Sunday Taiwan’s world No. 7 duo yesterday eased past the US’ world No. 37 pairing at the Toyota Thailand Open to reach the round-of-16 in Bangkok. Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin beat Phillip Chew and Ryan Chew 21-14, 21-11 in just 24 minutes. Lee and Wang, who won the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Thailand Open on Sunday, next face the world No. 34 pairing, Canada’s Jason Anthony Ho-Shue and Nyl Yakura. In men’s singles, Taiwan’s world No. 2 Chou Tien-chen again beat Thailand’s world No. 45 Suppanyu Avihingsanon, after edging past the Thai player in the opening round of the Yonex
Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant described new teammate James Harden as “incredible” after the guard recorded a triple-double on his debut for the team in their 122-115 NBA victory over the Orlando Magic on Saturday night. Harden on Thursday joined the Nets from the Houston Rockets to reunite with Durant — his former teammate at Oklahoma City Thunder — and the duo looked dominant in their first game together with the Brooklyn team. Durant scored a season-high 42 points while Harden, the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 2018, became the seventh player in NBA history to register a triple-double in his debut
Three new COVID-19 cases yesterday hit the Australian Open’s troubled buildup as a backlash grew against international tennis players flown in during a raging pandemic. Two of the new cases were players, state health officials said, taking the total infections to seven since more than 1,000 people arrived in largely COVID-19-free Australia on charter flights last week. The Victoria Department of Health and Human Services said that the two players and a third person associated with the tournament — a woman in her 20s, and two men in their 30s — had returned positive results. The year’s first Grand Slam, delayed three weeks,
RSS