Serena beats Li Na, makes up for Venus’ upset
Serena Williams made up for her sister Venus’ earlier defeat with a 7-5 6-3 victory over Li Na at Wimbledon, securing herself a place in the tournament semi-finals at the All England Club.
The younger of the sisters, Serena would have clashed again with her sister in a 2009 finals repeat had she not eliminated Li Na. Serena, the Wimbledon defending champion, had little trouble in her bid to maintain her title.
Already a three-time Wimbledon champion, the top seeded Williams moved one step closer to another grass-court finals appearance, which would come with the opportunity to win her 13th Grand Slam trophy.
The shocking eliminations of Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters earlier on Tuesday have made Serena’s job much easier, but she did have to bring it all out in the opening set against Li. The Chinese tennis star had previously taken Williams to two tie-breaks in the Australian Open semi-finals back in January.
Williams kept her control on serve while keeping the pressure on Li, looking poised while moving into a 6-5 lead, after gaining a 40-0 lead with three winning points.
However, two unforced errors, as well as two double faults ended up taking Williams to break point, and after the Chinese player let a volley go long, Williams got the advantage.
Finally, Williams proceeded to finish off the set in 45 minutes when she hammered a winning backhand just down the line.
Na Li gets gnarly
The ninth seeded Na Li attempted to mix it up in the second set, yet Serena's power and control proved to be too much for her. Li eventually surrendered her resistance and ended up breaking in game five, while the ferocious American got to break once again for a score of 5-2.
However Li was far from finished and sent a brutal backhand to get an unforced error at the net from the 28-year-old Serena, which gave her the first two break points of the match. On Williams’ second serve, Li took advantage of a volley that went amiss from her opponent, and struck a winning forehand down the line.
Williams was not to be messed with, and although she allowed Li to be up several times throughout the match, she finally proved who was boss by breaking in the third game, and winning 7-5 6-3 as Li's forehand drifted wide.
Serena's total of 11 aces rang up her Championship total to 73, improving on her last year’s record of 72. With an impressive first serve, the younger Williams lost only five points.
Serena into semis, Venus on sidelines
Serena’s sister, the five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams was defeated by Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria, in a shocking upset of 6-2 6-3 in the quarter-final match at Wimbledon on Tuesday.
The first time in four years that Venus Williams failed to reach the Wimbledon finals, she will be watching from the sidelines as her sister Serena moves into the semi-finals, quite possibly making it into the final match up. Venus’ last absence from the finals was in 2006.
The surprise win by Pironkova, who is seeded at No 82, made this the next in a series of upsets that have shaken Wimbledon this year. American Andy Roddick’s elimination by unseeded Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan, and Kim Clijsters’ defeat to Russia’s Zvonareva were among the biggest shockers of the Grand Slam.
The Bulgarian Pironkova took control right from the beginning of the match against Venus Williams, beating her in a mere hour and 25 minutes on Court One. The older Williams sister was visibly disoriented at having been blasted out of the tournament in a straight set victory.
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