Venus teaches hard lesson to young Wimbledon upstart
AMERICAN BECOMES OLDEST WOMEN’S SEMI-FINALIST IN 23 YEARS
enus Williams handed out another lesson to one of Wimbledon’s young upstarts when she beat Jelena Ostapenko 6-3 7-5 yesterday to become the oldest women’s semi-finalist for 23 years.
The five-times champion, who turned 37 last month, tamed the big-hitting Latvian with a rock-solid performance under the Centre Court roof, winning with something to spare.
Williams, who had already disposed of a 21-year-old and two teenagers en route to her 38th grand slam quarter-final, barely flinched against the 20-year-old French Open champion whose magnificent 11-match winning run in majors came to an end.
The American, who must scroll back to the 2008 Wimbledon for her seventh, and most recent, grand slam singles title, broke Ostapenko’s serve in the second game and was untroubled in taking the opener in 29 minutes.
Felt the pressure
She sealed it when her 13thseeded opponent swished at thin air on an attempted forehand service return.
Ostapenko was subdued as Williams secured an early break in the second set, although she got a helping hand back into the match when Williams double-faulted to drop serve.
That had the effect of lighting the Ostapenko fuse and she began to look threatening as she held serve to love with an ace to move 4-3 ahead on a gloomy Centre Court.
Williams had to serve to stay in the second set at 4-5 and was relieved to see an Ostapenko return land narrowly wide at 30-30 before squaring the set.
Ostapenko felt the pressure in the next game when a hurried forehand into the net gave Williams the break and the veteran needed no second invitation, holding serve to love to claim victory.
Garbine Muguruza powered into her second Wimbledon semi-final in the last three years with an emphatic 6-3, 6-4 win over Russian seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Since winning her maiden Grand Slam title at the French Open last year, Muguruza has struggled to return to the top and this is her first major semifinal since that Roland Garros triumph.
“I played good. I’m trying
(Women’s quarter finals)
10-Venus Williams (US) beat 13-Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) 6-3 7-5 14-Garbine Muguruza Blanco (Spain) beat 7-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 6-3 6-4
not to think a lot, just go for it and play my game. I’m happy it worked out,” Muguruza said.
“It seems far away since I last made the final here. I’m a completely different player.
“It means a lot to make the semi-finals again, my breakthrough was here.”
Beaten in the 2015 Wimbledon final by Serena Williams, Muguruza has a golden opportunity to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish for the first time while the 23-time major winner is sidelined preparing for the birth of her first child.
No answer
The 23-year-old, coached by compatriot and former Wimbledon winner Conchita Martinez, broke Kuznetsova in the fourth game of the first set, an advantage she never looked like relinquishing.
Kuznetsova, a former French and US Open champion, was in her first Wimbledon quarter-final for 10 years, but the 32-year-old had no answer to Muguruza’s searing groundstrokes.