Serena Into Wimbledon Finals After Dominating Sharapova
Not much changed in the 20th installment of the Serena Williams-Maria Sharapova saga on Thursday. The world number one Serena continued her dominance over Sharapova, downing the fourth-seeded Russian 6-2, 6-4 to reach the Wimbledon finals.
Serena entered the match with a 17-2 record against Sharapova, and got things off to a quick start on Thursday. She broke the 2004 champion in the opening game, and followed it up with a break in the fifth for a commanding 4-1 advantage.
After serving out the remainder of that set, Serena broke through with a break at 2-2 to take a 3-2 lead. Sharapova would save a match point and hold serve to bring it to 4-5, but that is all Serena would allow.
Almost symbolically, Serena fired three straight aces in the final game to close out Sharapova and cement her spot in the Wimbledon final for the first time since she won it all in 2012.
“I’m really excited,” said Serena. “I was a little nervous out there. The semifinals of Wimbledon—it’s been a long time since I’ve been this far in this tournament. I think Maria played really well.”
Serena hit 29 winners to just 15 unforced errors, while Sharapova had just nine winners and 13 unforced errors. The American took it to Sharapova from the opening serve and never gave her an opportunity to get back into it.
In the final, Serena will play 20th seeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, who downed 13th seed Agnieszka Radwanska earlier in the day.
Serena is 2-1 all-time against Muguruza, but the one loss was a 2-6, 2-6 defeat at last year’s French Open, the worst Grand Slam loss of her career.
“She’s beaten me before, and she’s improved too,” Serena said of her next opponent. “It’s not going to be an easy match.”
