Serena closer and closer to another Grand Slam title, Venus stunned in Wimbledon quarters

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Wilson Blade 9

Serena WilliamsDefending champion and top seed Serena Williams reached the semifinals of Wimbledon with a 7-5 6-3 win over ninth seed Li Na, while her sister Venus, five-time Wimbledon champion and last year’s runner-up, crashed out to world No.82 Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarters.

Li didn’t break Serena’s serve until 5-2 in the second set and Serena then immediately broke back to advance to the semifinal meeting with world No.62 Petra Kvitova, who had never won a match at Wimbledon before this year. To reach the semifinals, Czech Kvitova defeated Kaia Kanepi after saving five match points and coming from 5-2 down in the deciding set (final score: 4-6 7-6(8) 8-6).

Second seed Venus Williams lost her quarterfinal match against Tsvetana Pironkova in straight sets 6-2 6-3 and Pironkova has thus become the first Bulgarian to reach semifinals of a Grand Slam in the Open Era. Prior to Wimbledon 2010, world No.82 Pironkova had recorded just one victory at the tournament.

Pironkova’s opponent in the semifinals will be seed No.21 Vera Zvonareva who upset eighth seed Kim Clijsters 3-6 6-4 6-2 even though the Belgian entered the match with a perfect 5-0 record against the Russian. Clijsters’ game was worsening as the match progressed and Zvonareva reached her second Grand Slam semifinal.

The 2010 Wimbledon semifinals are yet again proving how unpredictable women’s tennis is nowadays. Who would have thought that semifinal pairs would be Serena Williams vs. Petra Kvitova and Vera Zvonareva vs. Tsvetana Pironkova. I’m sure absolutely no one was even close! At present, world No.1 Serena is the only WTA player you can count on. (photo: sr_cranks)

20 COMMENTS

  1. OMG, when Venus doesn’t have a day, she REALLY doesn’t have a day. Too many errors, too many. Hoping to see Serena and Vera in final.

  2. Oh, I am soooo surprised! actually, I thought there would Serena vs. Kim final. I dont assume Wimby final to be interesting as potential opponents for Serena ar: one of them just too emotional like Dina and another one just too unexperienced. But you never know 🙂

  3. I would also like to see Serena vs. Vera in the final. Yeah, you never know, maybe we will see Kvitova vs. Pironkova final. Imagine that! Jacob, what are you talking about?

  4. dissapointing to see clijsters and venus out!

    guess we could almost give the rosewarter dish to serena now.

  5. I think it is too premature to predict Serena will once again raise the “dish”. Although Serena’s serve is doing very well she is lacking in return of serve and rallies imo. If her opponent can return serve and move her around the court it would be to their advantage. I would like Serena to win but there is a possibility for an upset. The remaining players in the women’s draw seems to be hungry and fearless at this point.

  6. I’d like to see a Kvitova-Pironkova final out of the final 4. Sad after Justine went out and rooting for Li Na and JJ too.

  7. I have officially lost all interest in Wimbledon 2010 🙁 Can’t believe these semi-final pairings, I hope Serena wins the whole thing now.

  8. Bróna so let´s watch a men´s part 🙂 your home favourite Murray has progressed to the semis 🙂

  9. I think it’s good that new people are stepping up their game. I think that with media hyping up just a tight elite of players the underdogs got motivated to work hard and prove themeselves to the public and their rivals. Pironkova was pretty good against Henin at French but she was amazing against Venus.I would like to see a non-Williams final and someone from the unexpected people lift the trophy.

  10. LuLinQa, it’s even worse for me when it comes to the men’s! My favourite is Federer and I am so disappointed that he lost today 🙁 I don’t like Murray one bit 😛 He’s Scottish but I’m Irish 🙂

  11. Marine, I get your point. I would prefer to see bigger names in this Wimbledon final, for some reason, actually I would prefer underdogs if they were from Serbia. 😛 More or less, in the current women’s tennis every player has equal chances, no matter the ranking. I think only Serena stands out from this.

    LuLinQa, you tried. 🙂

  12. Disappointing women’s semis for me…I’m not a fan of Serena and she’s the only big name left… so it is difficult to pick who I want to win vs. who I know will probably win. But in the men’s: Go Murray! 🙂

  13. Bróna i understand you are a fed fan but even the biggest of federer fans would be disgusted with his post match interview!

  14. LuLinQa, it’s not that I don’t cheer for Brits, it’s that I just don’t like Murray. Thanks for trying to cheer me up though 🙂

    Emi, in no way am I disgusted with Federer’s post match interview. He was honest and although he said he was struggling physically he gave his opponent credit and he was very realistic in his assessment of his own performance. I would always prefer to hear my favourite player speak the truth than for them to delude themselves into thinking that everything is ok when its not. Federer gives one press conference that is a little bit different than usual and he is heavily criticised for it. It’s hardly fair.

    Sorry Marija, I won’t talk men’s tennis here again, it is Women’s Tennis Blog after all 🙂

  15. Bróna, no worries, it’s allowed. 🙂 At least to a reasonable extent.

    Guys, Vera lost the first set 6-3!

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