Serena Williams (USA) [1] vs. Elena Vesnina RUS. Serena is playing in her tenth Wimbledon semifinal (8-1) while her opponent is playing in her first major semifinal. She has never lost to Vesnina, who is quite an accomplished grass court tennis player, as the Russian demonstrated on Tuesday with her dispatch of Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets 6-2 6-2. Vesnina is one of the lesser heralded Russian players, but has had significant success in doubles. Serena, despite her protestations that she doesn't even think about getting to 22 majors to tie Steffi Graf and cement her status as the greatest of all time, knows that she just has two more matches to win, on her best surface, to basically end this conversation. There's some caution in that Serena has been here before, and blinked, but I believe she will learn from those experiences and use them to eventually reach her goal, probably on Saturday. PREDICTION: Serena.
Simona Halep (ROU) [5] Angelique Kerber (GER) [4] vs Venus Williams (USA) [8]. I really, REALLY want to see Venus Williams win another (6th) Wimbledon, but even though anything in sports is possible, there are results that are way more probable than others. Head-to-head, Kerber leads 3-2 and has even beaten Venus here on grass at the All-England Club (although it was during the 2012 London Olympics). The two also played a very famous match in the second round of the U.S. Open later that summer where Kerber pipped Venus 7-5 in the 3rd. Kerber is now a major champion herself, having outplayed Serena in the Melbourne final earlier this year, and she is playing like it. She dismissed her putative rival for the pole position behind Serena, Simona Halep, relatively easily in their quarterfinal in two relatively tight sets and now firmly has set her sights on the Queen herself. PREDICTION: Kerber.
100% again!
ReplyDeleteMight be a very good final.