LONDON, July 5, 2016
Angelique Kerber has reached the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time since 2012. The fourth seed from Germany fought past the tournament’s number five Simona Halep 7-5, 6-2 on Monday. Kerber capitalized on seven of her 11 break point chances, winning 74 of the 138 total points played to seal victory in one hour and 30 minutes.
“There were a lot of breaks today but we were both returning well. The level of the match was pretty high,” Kerber told afterwards. “Simona played really well today but I just tried to be aggressive and to focus on my own game. Overall, I am very pleased with my tennis right now. It feels a bit like in Australia and I have much more experience than four years ago. Now I know how to play on centre court,” the reigning Australian Open champion added.
Kerber will next play Venus Williams. The eighth favourite from the United States defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 7-6, 6-2. Williams won 71% of her first service points, converting four of her 12 break point opportunities to prevail in one hour and 42 minutes.
“What a tough day on the court. She played so well. What a day it was against an opponent who was on fire. When she walk to the net as the winner that’s the goal and the dream. I love playing the game and when you’re winning it makes it that much sweeter. I would love to be walking towards the final, and progress made today,” Venus Williams told.
Top seed Serena Williams also made it to the semis, edging past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-4. Williams sent down 11 aces and hit 29 winners to advance into her 10th semi-final at SW19 after one hour and 12 minutes.
Elena Vesnina completes a symmetrical 6-2, 6-2 win over Dominika Cibulkova. The 29-year-old Russian had never reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal before today but now she’s into the Wimbledon semi-finals. It was a one-sided victory in the end but there are plenty of smiles as the players hug it out at the net. The encounter lasted 76 minutes.
Meanwhile on Court 3, it took five sets and two days, but Tomas Berdych completed the Gentlemen’s Singles quarterfinal line up after finally outgunning Czech mate Jiri Vesely 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3. He finished the battle with a break on his eighth match point of the contest. Berdych, the 2010 finalist, will face France’s Lucas Pouille in the last eight.
“It was not really a position I would like to be, especially last night. But the important thing was that I was able to erase it from my mind very quickly, get a good night’s sleep, and come back strong again to finish the last set,” Berdych said. “I think that’s all the experience that I have. That’s what really gets me through this.”
