Serena Williams battles past Victoria Azarenka into Wimbledon semis
LONDON – Down a set and facing the opponent who has given her as much trouble as any recent foe, Serena Williams dug deep once again, this time to book a spot in the Wimbledon semifinals.
Williams lost the opening set before finding her form against a steely Victoria Azarenka, the former world No. 1. The victory for the current No. 1 set up a final four showdown for Williams with Maria Sharapova, a spot in the Wimbledon final on the line.
Here's what went down.
Scoreline: [1] Serena Williams (USA) def. [23] Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
Williams started slowly against an opponent who she's been forced to three sets against in four of their last five meetings. But Williams, 33, wasn't 16-3 vs. Azarenka for no reason before this match, reeling off a series of seven games at one point to distance herself from her challenger.
What it means: Serena keeps alive her quest for a calendar Grand Slam in 2015, something she has never achieved and that has not been done in tennis since Steffi Graf did so in 1988. Williams also continues the chase for four straight major championship titles, having won at each the U.S., Australian and French Opens in the past year.
It marked another challenge for Williams in this tournament, where she has sworn off answering questions about her respective historic quests at Grand Slam streaks: In the third round she was two points from defeat against home hope Heather Watson before prevailing; in the fourth round she beat sister Venus for the first time in six years on this court.
Maria awaits: The road doesn't get any easier for Williams, who next meets No. 4 seed Sharapova. It was the Russian who beat Williams here in 2004 as a 17-year-old in the final, but Serena has reeled off an astounding 16 matches in a row in their "rivalry," a 17-2 head-to-head lead for Williams overall. Sharapova beat American CoCo Vandeweghe in her quarterfinal Tuesday.
It's just the second time that Williams and Sharapova will meet at this tournament and the first since Williams won a tightly-fought round of 16 encounter in 2010.
How it happened: A 12-minute, six-deuece game proved pivotal in the second set on Tuesday. Azarenka won it, but it allowed Williams to wake up and sink her teeth into this match. She won seven straight games from 3-6, 2-all to get to 3-6, 6-2, 3-0, clearly with momentum on her side.
Azarenka attempted to rally herself, holding for 1-3 to snap that seven-game streak. But Williams was too powerful, too consistent, upping her head-to-head against the 25 year old to 17-3 with the grass court game that has won her five major titles, most recently in 2012.
But after Azarenka willed herself to hold for 3-5 in the third set and took a love-30 lead on Williams' serve, the American honed in: She served three aces and another service winner, earning her a first match point. It was there that Serena capitalized, an Azarenka forehand floating wide and Williams jumping for joy with the victory in two hours, four minutes.
Key stat: Azarenka watched her first serve percent drop slowly throughout the match, and with it her chance at beating the most powerful force in women's tennis. Williams hit an astounding 46 winners to 20 from her opponent, including 17 aces. She also won on a key three of nine break point opportunities.
What she said: "It's been up and down, up and down," Williams said of the fortnight. "Somehow, I'm still here."
On facing Sharapova: "It's been a while but she's playing really well. She's such a fighter. We haven't played at Wimbledon in a while, but I don't have anything to lose. I'm going to go in there and going to do my best."
