Kerber Stands Between Serena and 22 Grand Slam Title
Holder Serena Williams will play Angelique Kerber in the women's singles final at Wimbledon today.
Six-time champion Serena, 34, thrashed Russia's Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-0 in 48 minutes to reach her ninth final.
Fourth-seeded German Kerber, 28, prevented a fifth allWilliams final by beating Serena's older sister Venus, who was badly out of sorts, 6-4 6-4.
In January, the left-handed Kerber beat Serena in the Australian Open final for her first Grand Slam title. Supreme Serena
Serena, who is bidding to match Steffi Graf's open era record of 22 Grand Slam singles title, simply had too much firepower for her unseeded opponent.
Vesnina, a two-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, looked overawed from the outset, losing the first four games.
The world number 50, playing in her first Grand Slam singles semi-final, rallied but still lost the first set in 28 minutes.
Things got even worse for Vesnina in the second set, the 29-year-old simply unable to deal with the Serena serve, which yielded only three points in the match. Kerber the Williams slayer
Venus, who last won the title in 2008, was appearing in her first Grand Slam semi-final since the 2010 US Open and was the oldest major semi-finalist since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 1994.
Five-time champion Venus fell out of the world's top 100 in 2011 after being diagnosed with the immune system disorder Sjogren's syndrome.
And the eighth seed looked fatigued throughout, dropping her serve four times in the first set and also in the first game of the second. Kerber continued to take advantage of Venus' misfiring forehand, wrapping things up in one hour and 12 minutes to reach her first Wimbledon final. Serena set on revenge
"We've had tough matches before and I knew she could bring it to me on this surface," said Serena, who led Vesnina 4-0 in head-to-heads before Thursday. "It's never easy out there, every point you have to fight for. "I can't believe I'm in the final this year. I'm 0-2 this year [Serena lost the Australian and French Open finals] so I'm determined to win one." What the experts said
John McEnroe, three-time Wimbledon champion: "Let's be real, I'm guessing it's a combination of fatigue and Vesnina freezing. Her legs looked like they weighed 200 pounds each.
"It shows you how great Serena is. As a former player, you understand how difficult it is. The first time I went on Centre Court it felt like my legs would buckle."
Tracy Austin, two-time Grand Slam winner: "Serena lost just one point on her first serve, had a first serve percentage of 77% and hit 28 winners. She played at another level and Vesnina was completely overwhelmed."
Lindsay Davenport, 1999 Wimbledon champion: "It will be great to see Serena compete for her 22nd Grand Slam title, but you always want more competitive matches. It has been the tournament of Elena Vesnina's life but this was a tough day at the office for her."