Serena, Vesnina Roll Into Wimbledon Final Four

July 5, 2016 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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World number one and defending champion Serena Williams rolled into the Wimbledon semifinals, snatching a late break in each of the two sets to defeat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-4 and book her spot in the final four.

“I’m excited to have been able to win that one and get through. It feels really good,” said Serena. “One thing I’ve learned this year is to just focus on the match.”

Since her second-round scare against fellow American Christina McHale in which she dropped the opening set, she has dropped just 16 games in her last three matches.

Serena used her dominant serve to dictate the play on Tuesday, winning ninety percent of the points on her first serve and never facing a break point. She pounced on both of her break point chances, both coming at 4-4 in each set, to routinely make her way into the semifinals.

In the semifinals, Serena will take on Russia’s Elena Vesnina, who ended the run of Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova with a 6-2, 6-2 victory on Tuesday.

Despite learning of Venus’ score before her match, Serena made sure she wasn’t looking ahead to a potential final matchup with her sister.

“We’re happy to be both in the semifinals,” said Serena. “I want her to win so bad—not in the final if I’m there, but I desperately want her to win.”

Venus will take on Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber in the other semifinal. 


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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