Serena Williams into Wimbledon final after defeating Petra Kvitova
Defending champion Serena Williams has booked her place in the Wimbledon final with a 7-6(5), 6-2 victory over Petra Kvitova in the penultimate round of the competition.
But though Kvitova may be out of the tournament this year, the giant-killing youngster has marked herself as a player of the future after a remarkable run to the semis and a defiant performance against the world’s top ranked player once she was there.
Williams faced her first break point of the day in her opening service game of the match, but saved that against an opponent who had stepped on the court with the clear belief that she was doing more than just making up the numbers.
And while the top seed soon had a break point chance of her own, Kvitova ensured at least in the early stages of the set that games would remain on serve, as she sought to establish herself as the aggressor in the match.
And as Kvitova fought fire with fire, it was the Czech who surprised the centre court crowd by breaking serve for the first time in the semi-final early in the match.
A double fault by the left-hander handed the top seed the chance to break straight back, but Serena sent the backhand return long and the defending champion wasn’t handed another opportunity to do so in the game as Kvitova consolidated the break with the help of some solid serving of her own.
All Kvitova’s hard work, however, came undone with scores at 4-3 in her favour after two loose shots at deuce gifted Serena the break back and games were once again back on serve as the set headed towards a tiebreak.
Once there, Serena’s ability to handle the pressure shone through and though the 20-year-old saved two set points in the breaker an unreturnable Williams serve ensured the first set was decided in her favour.
Kvitova may have been facing a task many would label as mission impossible as she sought to overcome the world’s best player from a set behind, but that didn’t blunt her will to try, as she continued to play an attacking brand of tennis and time and again leave Serena on the back foot with her penetrating ground strokes.
So much so that when the world No. 1 did secure the break and a 3-2 lead in the second set, her discernable emotion was more one of relief than a celebration of closing in on a place in the Wimbledon final for the third consecutive year.
Serena’s next break, handed to her with a double fault, however did spell the end of the challenge of a player who, in saving the first break point chance the top seed had created in the game earned the crowd’s extended applause for prevailing in the rally of the match.
Williams then went on to serve for the match and extinguish the hopes of an unseeded player making it through to the ladies singles final at Wimbledon for the first time in the tournament’s history.
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