WIMBLEDON, England – Serena Williams wins with so much more than serving, of course.
Her groundstrokes are intimidating. Her superb speed and anticipation fuel unparalleled court-covering defense. Her returns are outstanding, too.
When that serve is on target, though, it sure is something special, quite possibly the greatest in the history of women’s tennis.
Williams, lashing a tournament-record 24 aces at up to 120 mph, and doing plenty of other things well, too, the four-time Wimbledon champion overpowered No. 2-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 7-6 (6) on Thursday to reach her seventh final at the All England Club.
“The older I get, the better I serve, I feel,” Williams said. “I don’t know how it got better. I really don’t know. It’s not like I go home and I work on baskets and baskets of serves. Maybe it’s a natural shot for me.”
On Saturday, the 30-year-old Williams will try to become the first woman at least that age to win a major tournament since Martina Navratilova, who was 33 when she won Wimbledon in 1990.
Her next opponent will be No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who reached her first Grand Slam final at age 23 with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 8 Angelique Kerber of Germany.
“After a couple of games, I just relaxed a little bit,” said Radwanska, who made only six unforced errors, one in the second set. “I was really focusing on every point.”
Williams won 20 of her 24 service points in the first set, including 17 in a row during one stretch. She didn’t double-fault once, a real accomplishment, given how often she went for corners and lines. She finished with a 45-14 edge in total winners.
“I honestly didn’t feel great on my serve today. I really didn’t,” said Williams, who went back on court later with older sister Venus to reach the doubles semifinals. “I thought my serve was off, and apparently – clearly – it wasn’t, so maybe I should be off a little more.”
And this performance didn’t come against a slouch: Azarenka won the Australian Open in January as part of a 26-0 start to this season, was playing in her third semifinal in the past five major tournaments, and would have returned to No. 1 in the rankings if she had managed to beat Williams.
But that was not about to happen. Not the way Williams is playing, five weeks after a stunning exit at the French Open, her only first-round loss in 48 Grand Slam appearances.
“I’ve been working so hard,” the sixth-seeded American said, “and I really, I really wanted it.”
She’s now one win away from a fifth Wimbledon championship, adding to those in 2002-03 and 2009-10, and 14th Grand Slam singles trophy overall – but first in two years. For her, that’s a long gap.
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