Williams holds off Riske
Seven- time Wimbledon winner rallies to take final three games in decisive 3rd set
WIMBLEDON, England — Slowed by a balky ankle, trailing by a service break in the third set of her Wimbledon quarterfinal, Serena Williams appeared to be in trouble Tuesday against an opponent playing the tournament of her life.
Williams was down, yes. But out? No way. And now she is two victories from that 24th Grand Slam title that’s been barely eluding her.
Lifting her play a much- needed notch down the stretch to grab the final three games, capping the comeback with her 19th ace — at 121 mph, no less — Williams reached the semifinals at the All England Club by gutting out a 64, 4- 6, 6- 3 win over 55th- ranked Alison Riske.
“I had to just button up and play hard,” said Williams, who owns seven Wimbledon titles. “She was playing her heart out.”
That she was. Riske, a 29- year- old from Peters Township, was appearing in her first major quarterfinal. For Williams, this was No. 51.
That might have made all the difference. “I definitely thought maybe I had a peek here and there at a couple openings, but Serena really upped her level, as only a champion would,” Riske said.
“It was really, actually, very interesting for me to be on the opposite end, because I felt her up her game and her intensity,” Riske said with a smile. “Yeah, I hope she takes the title now.”
Next for Williams, 37, will be a match against 54thranked Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic, who reached her first Grand Slam semifinal at age 33 with a 7- 6 ( 5), 6- 1 victory over No. 19 Johanna Konta of Britain.
“A huge achievement for me,” said Strycova, who is playing in her 53rd major tournament.
The other semifinal Thursday will be No. 7 Simona Halep of Romania against No. 8 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.
After edging Riske in singles, Williams cooled down by riding a stationary bike while holding her nearly 2- year- old daughter, Olympia, in one arm. Then Williams went out and joined Andy Murray to win their second- round match in mixed doubles, 7- 5, 6- 3, against Fabrice Martin and Raquel Atawo.
Halep, a former No. 1 who won the 2018 French Open, followed up her elimination of 15- year- old sensation Coco Gauff by defeating Zhang Shuai of China, 7- 6 ( 4), 6- 1, to get to her second semifinal at Wimbledon. Svitolina will make her debut in that round at any major tournament thanks to beating Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic, 7- 5, 6- 4.
These sorts of stakes, and this sort of setting, are unfamiliar for Riske, who mistakenly headed to her changeover chair thinking the match’s fifth game was over when the score was just 40- 15.
Even if Williams was hardly perfect, she got by, aided by her greatest- in- thegame serve and Riske’s miscues. Most glaringly, Riske