Serena, Halep turn on the style

LONDON, July 9

Serena Williams clubbed her way into the Wimbledon semifinals, draining the last drop of fight from fellow American Alison Riske before sealing a 6-4 4-6 6-3 win in a rip-roaring Centre Court contest today. For two sets, Riske absorbed every last punishing blow from the seven times champion, while her own lightweight jab inflicted some early pain and then levelled the see-saw encounter at 1-1.

Williams’s blows, however, became too frequent and too heavy in the final games, with the weaponised serve pushing the world No. 55 Riske back on her heels, leaving the Williams forehand to work like an old slugger’s right-hook. Having knocked out world No. 1 Ash Barty in the last round and having spent over nine hours on court en route to the quarters — the longest path to the last eight of anyone since 2011 — Riske had shown a streak of pure Pittsburgh steel.

But Williams is tennis tungsten, and recovered superbly from a brief wobble in which she lost the second set and fell a break behind in the third. She eventually charged over the finish line after more than two hours on court, bringing up match point when Riske netted a forehand and completing the job in typical fashion with her 19th ace of the match.

“It was really satisfying; I wouldn’t have won that match a couple of weeks ago, every match here has really counted,” said Williams.

Halep destroys Zhang  

Former world No. 1 Simona Halep reached her second Wimbledon semifinal after overcoming an early onslaught to deliver another textbook example of matchplay tennis and dispatch China’s unseeded Zhang Shuai 7-6(4) 6-1. Quelling the lively challenge of 15-year-old Coco Gauff on Monday, Halep initially struggled and looked in real danger when 4-1 down and facing more break points in the opening set. 

However, the Romanian dug in to see off the threat then played her usual percentage tennis as Zhang lost her way. 

Strycova shocks Konta 

Unseeded Czech Barbora Strycova weathered an early storm to flatten British hopes with a 7-6(5) 6-1 defeat of Johanna Konta in the quarterfinals. 

Konta powered into a 4-1 lead in the first set but Strycova never panicked and used her superior craft to turn the match in her favour in front of a deflated Centre Court crowd.

After playing a superb tiebreak to take the first set the 33-year-old Strycova took complete charge of the match as Konta self-destructed with a flurry of wild errors.  

Konta had raised hopes of a first British wsomen’s singles champion at Wimbledon since 1977 with a strong run to the last eight, but she was well-beaten in the end. World No.  54 Strycova will face seven-time champion Serena Williams in her first Grand Slam semifinal.  — Reuters