Serena Williams wins Wimbledon semifinal over Sharapova
Maria Sharapova stood no chance to make the final when it came to facing Serena Williams at Wimbledon. The number four ranked Russian couldn’t bring down the number one in the world as she was eliminated quickly by a 6-2, 6-4 straight set match
The rivalry got underway for the 20th time in tennis history with Williams still being the more powerful of the two. She has won 17 matches against Sharapova with the last upset around the time Sharapova won at Wimbledon 11 years ago. She would try everything possible to break Williams from gaining a third title that would put her one away from a complete Grand Slam.
The Russian might have the chance to get a victory as the grass courts at the All England Club have been the only place during the regular season she has won against her. With the history in mind of both, it would come down to who makes the first break on board and whether or not they can hold the other back.
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Sharapova didn’t start the set off on the right foot as she committed unforced errors on serve to hand Williams the opening lead. Williams added another with her hard shot putting the Russian in a hole that is difficult to get out of in the late stages. Sharapova rallied a victory in the third but watched Williams take control of the set with her response on the Russian’s shot.
It then led to a 5-1 commanding lead for Williams as the memory of the first set on court three years ago was flooding back to Sharapova. She made every effort to stave off a quick end to the set holding a double break against Williams to cut the lead down to three games. The number one player closed out the set in 33 minutes with a quick 6-2 win of the set. Williams had seven aces against Sharapova including 12 winners. Despite her 52 percent serve, she landed 10 of 12 across the net to be at the halfway point of winning the match.
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Sharapova knew that her current tactics against the big size of Williams weren’t effective. In response in the second set, the Russian made a break leading 2-1 but watched her efforts fall apart. The American dominated Sharapova by exposing her weaknesses and moving so well on court that led to a 4-2 lead for Williams.
The Russian got desperate on court as she bought time by challenging a call that was clearly correct by officials. On figuring out what to do, Sharapova committed to moves that normally wouldn’t be seen in her game. With the crowd out of the match, Williams made a move to throw the game allowing Sharapova to gain some support.
She ended the fun for Sharapova, taking the eighth game outright to lead 5-3. Before she could put a cap on the match, Sharapova somehow forced deuce against the Williams to win the fourth win in her favor on a shot outside the baseline. Game Nine would be the point of William’s push for the match as she landed an ace to get things started against Sharapova. With a third ace in the game, Williams fired a great shot in the low corner to end the set in 45 minutes.
The match took 1 hour and 19 minutes, which was a usual amount of time for Williams to defeat anyone. With her history against Sharapova it only served as another win that the tennis world was so used to already.
With the final now set, Williams would match up against Spain’s Garbine Muguruza Saturday. The two have met three times but unlike the usual dominance from Williams, Muguruza has had lucky against her.