Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
‘This is really happening’: Serena reaches semifinals
LONDON » There are moments in which nothing at all seems different about Serena Williams, moments such as when she unleashed a 109 mph service winner to even her Wimbledon quarterfinal at a set apiece, leaned forward and yelled, loudly as can be, “Cooome ooon!”
Or when, about 10 minutes later, she stretched for a lunging backhand winner to break at love and take control of the third set, then raised a fist, figuring a berth in her 11th semifinal at the All England Club was close at hand.
And after Williams came up with a comeback to beat 52nd-ranked Camila Giorgi of Italy 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday, she headed off Centre Court with her right index finger aloft. Yes, no matter what the rankings or seedings say, no matter how long she was away, Williams still looks capable of playing like someone who’s No. 1, just about 10 months after having a baby.
“Everything right now is a little bit of a surprise. To be here. To be in the semifinals. I mean, I always say I plan on it, I would like to be there, have these goals,” Williams said. “But when it actually happens, it still is, like, ‘Wow, this is really happening.’” So what if she’s still getting her game in gear? So what if Giorgi wouldn’t seem to miss while moving out to that early lead? Williams never was worried about losing. “It’s weird. Sometimes I feel, ‘Man, I’m in trouble.’ Sometimes I feel, ‘I can fight.’ For whatever reason, today I was so calm,” said 36-year-old American, who has been wearing compression leggings as a precaution after a blood-clot scare following her daughter’s birth. “Even when I was down the first set, I thought, ‘Well, she’s playing great. I’m doing a lot of the right things.’”
Asked whether that might represent a new way of looking at things, Williams smiled.
“No. Just to be clear, that was just today. I mean, I’m hoping this is, like, a new thing,” she said. “Honestly, I highly doubt it.”
Next up for Williams as she tries to earn her eighth title at the All England Club and 24th Grand Slam trophy overall will be a match Thursday against No. 13 seed Julia Goerges of Germany, a 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 winner against No. 20 Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands.
“It’s pretty unreal for me,” said Goerges, who reached her first major semifinal at a tournament where she exited in the first round each of the past five years.
The other semifinal is No. 11 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany vs. No. 12 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.
Kerber is a former No. 1 who owns two Grand Slam titles and was the runner-up to Williams at Wimbledon two years ago. Ostapenko won last year’s French Open.
Kerber needed seven match points to close out No. 14 Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-3, 7-5 at Centre Court, while Ostapenko defeated 2014 Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 7-5, 6-4 at a windy No. 1 Court.
After a series of upsets made this edition of Wimbledon the first since it began seeding players in the 1920s that none of the top 10 women reached the quarterfinals, Nos. 11, 12 and 13 are still around. And so is No. 25, Williams. LOOKAHEAD TO WEDNESDAY Roger Federer won’t have the comforts of Centre Court to rely on as he continues his search for a record-extending ninth Wimbledon title. Federer will play his quarterfinal against Kevin Anderson on No. 1 Court — the first time in three years he has been scheduled away from his usual home at the All England Club. That means he could have deal with windier conditions than usual, as No. 1 court is slightly more open to the elements. He’s still the big favorite against Anderson, the eighth-seeded South African who is playing in his first Wimbledon quarterfinal, compared to 16 for Federer — another record. Federer would take his streak of consecutive sets won at Wimbledon to 35 if he dispatches Anderson in three straight. That would eclipse his own record of 34 straight sets won between 2005 and 2006. On Centre Court, Novak Djokovic of Serbia will play Kei Nishikori Japan and Rafael Nadal of Spain will face Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. Djokovic and Nadal, with five titles between them, would face each other in the semifinals if both win. In the last quarterfinal, John Isner of the U.S. faces Milos Raonic of Canada. It’s the first time since 1981 that men from five different continents — Europe, Africa, North America, South America and Asia — have made the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. WEDNESDAY’S FORECAST Partly cloudy. High of 79 degrees. TUESDAY’S KEY RESULTS Women’s quarterfinals: No. 11 Angelique Kerber beat No. 14 Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 7-5; No. 12 Jelena Ostapenko beat Dominika Cibulkova 7-5, 6-4; No. 13 Julia Goerges beat No. 20 Kiki Bertens; No. 25 Serena Williams beat Camila Giorgi 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Men’s fourth round: No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro beat Gilles Simon 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5), 5-7, 7-6 (5). STAT OF THE DAY 44: Number of points Serena Williams won on her own serve of the last 54 she played against Giorgi. QUOTE OF THE DAY “Serena Williams, 51, eh? It doesn’t have that same ring to it. The ‘1’ part does, but not the ‘5’.”— Williams on climbing to 51st in the rankings after her win.
The All England Club seeded her there as a nod to all of her past success at the grass-court major, including titles the last two times she entered, in 2015 and 2016.