SB Nation Tennis Wimbledon 2010
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SB Nation's Ben Rothenberg breaks down the Ladies' Singles semifinals action from Day 10 at Wimbledon.
Serena Williams has broken Petra Kvitova for a second straight time to take a commanding 5-2 lead in the second set.
Though the seventh game ended with a double fault, it was an incredibly well-fought affair on both sides, with some spectacular rallies and shot-making from both.
Serena will now have two chances to serve for a spot in her sixth Wimbledon final, though I doubt she’ll need both.
Two deep forehands drew errors to give her an 0-30 lead, and a backhand error into the net on break point sealed the break for Serena Williams in the fifth game of the second set, giving her a 3-2 lead and putting the defending champion up a break for the first time in this semifinal against Petra Kvitova.
Three more holds are all the top seed needs for a meeting with No. 21 Vera Zvonareva in Saturday’s final.
After Kvitova was broken in the eighth game of the first set, two more holds from each player brought the first set to a deciding tiebreak.
Serena opened the tiebreak with a service winner up the middle. Kvitova challenged the call, but the ball clearly hit a good deal of the line. 1-0 Serena.
Serena then earned a quick minibreak as Kvitova tried to hit a deep forehand behind Serena, but powered it just long. 2-0 Serena.
On the next rally, Kvitova tried to go down the line with a forehand on the run, but hit it into the tape on the high part of the net near the post. 3-0 Serena.
Up two minibreaks, Serena hit a hard first serve that jammed Kvitova on her forehand side, forcing her return into the bottom of the net. 4-0 Serena.
Kvitova successfully challenged a would-be ace on Serena’s next service point, and then successfully approached off of a second serve return to bring herself to net, where she won the point with a deft forehand volley. 4-1 Serena.
Back on her own serve, Kvitova spun in an ace out-wide, short in the box to pull herself back into the breaker. 4-2 Serena.
Serena then was forced into a backhand error from the middle of the court off of a deep Kvitova shot up the middle on the next point. 4-3 Serena.
Kvitova had an open look at what would have been a forehand winner up the line to tie the breaker. But she made a mess of the low ball, sending it well wide of the doubles alley. 5-3 Serena.
Serena smelt blood, and hit an unreturnable serve up the middle to give herself a triple set point. 6-3 Serena.
After hitting her first serve wildly wide, a deep shot on Kvitova’s first groundstroke drew a forehand error from Serena in the top of the net. 6-4 Serena.
Kvitova then saved a second set point by jamming Serena with her serve on the backhand side, drawing a forced backhand error that floated well wide. 6-5 Serena.
But Serena conceded no more, winning the tiebreak 7-5 with a perfect serve into the wide corner that Kvitova could barely get a racquet on.
The 58 minute set puts the defending champion just a set away from her third consecutive Wimbledon final.
On her third break point of the match, Serena Williams was finally able to finish the job against Petra Kvitova, breaking her serve for the first time in the match.
Kvitova did most of the hard work in giving Serena the break, though, hitting three straight forehand errors to lose the game.
Williams has clearly picked Kvitova’s lefty forehand as her weaker wing, and seems to be targeting it with regularity.
4-4.
Petra Kvitova has drawn first blood in her semifinal match against No. 1 Serena Williams, breaking the defending champion in the fifth game of the match for a 3-2 lead.
Kvitova had a break point in the first game of the match and earlier in the fifth game as well, but was not able to convert on either. But she made good on her third, and now serves with the lead for the first time.
Kvitova has been incredibly aggressive in returning Serena’s serve, often immediately taking control of rallies right from that first shot.
Serena has been playing well, but to this point Kvitova has simply been better.
Russian No. 21 Vera Zvonareva has made her first career grand slam final with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over unseeded Tszvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.
Tszvetana Pironkova opened her first ever grand slam semifinal by winning the first set 6-3, by one break. It was the eleventh consecutive set Pironkova had won in the tournament, and the WTA No. 82 looked poised to run her way into a shocking spot in the final.
But Zvonareva remained steady, and kept pressure on Pironkova’s increasingly shaky forehand. She rolled through the second set, and despite some nervous moments in the third, won it as well by the convincing scoreline of 6-2.
Zvonareva took incredibly good care of her serve, and was not broken in either the second or third set. Pironkova broke No. 2 Venus Williams in four of her eight return games in the quarterfinal, so for Zvonareva to hold her to just one break in a longer match is extremely impressive.
Zvonareva, previously best known for tears on the court and breakdowns at crucial stages of matches, has certainly picked a good time in her career to become a pillar of mental fortitude.
She was previously known as a player who was easily beaten once she fell behind, but these past two rounds have seen her rally back from a set down for two of the biggest wins of her career, a grand slam final, and a place back in the top 10. None too shabby.
In her first grand slam final, Zvonareva would be a heavy underdog against No. 1 Serena Williams, and would probably be given only a 50/50 shot against Petra Kvitova. But she’s been proving the experts wrong all fortnight, and considering how well she’s playing (and especially serving), it would be foolish to count her out of any match any time soon.
No. 21 Vera Zvonareva (RUS) vs Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) -- The unlikeliest grand slam semifinal in memory is up first on Centre Court on Day 10.
Thanks in large part due to an injury to her fourth round opponent, No. 4 Jelena Jankovic, Zvonareva's road to the semifinal wasn't especially tough until the semifinal. But in that semifinal match, she registered an extremely impressive and extremely surprising three-set win over No. 8 Kim Clijsters, an extremely surprising result that wound up not even being the most surprising result of the hour.
Zvonareva was, of course, upstaged by the seismic upset scored by unseeded Tsvetana Pironkova, who took out Venus Williams in straight sets by the score of 6-2, 6-3. Not only did the titanic win come in her first career grand slam quarterfinal, it also came in the first slam of her career in which she advanced past the second round.
Stylistically, this will be an interesting clash of styles. Zvonareva is a power first, power always type player who goes all out on most every shot. Pironkova, on the other hand, has shown an incredible amount of variety in this tournament, hitting both drives and chunky slices off her forehand wing that make her shots nearly impossible to anticipate. Pironkova should be able to give Zvonareva fits with that mix in much the same the same way she drove Venus insane with it.
The two have played only once before, a bizarrely lopsided 6-0, 6-2 win for Pironkova last October in Moscow. Pironkova, a qualifier in Moscow, caught the No. 1 seed Zvonareva completely off-guard in that match, something that is sure not to happen in this semifinal.
Whoever wins this match will make history for their odds-defying achievement.If WTA No. 22 Zvonareva wins this match, she will be the lowest ranked first-time grand slam finalist on the women's side since all the way back to the 1999 Australian Open, when then-WTA No. 29 Amelie Mauresmo lost in the final to No. 2 Martina Hingis.If No. 82 Pironkova wins it, she will be the lowest ranked first-time grand slam finalist on the women's side since the computer rankings began in 1975.
Prediction: Pironkova in 3.
No. 1 Serena Williams (USA) vs Petra Kvitova (CZE) -- If Serena loses this, it will mean that women's tennis will see back to back slam champions outside the top 15, a pretty absurd feat given the alleged depth at the top of the women's game right now.
After a first round encounter with Michelle Larcher de Brito, Serena faced four consecutive players who have reached at least one grand slam semifinal. Her wins over Anna Chakvetadze and Dominika Cibulkova were both extremely convincing, and her next two wins over No. 16 Maria Sharapova and No. 9 Li Na were both confident, patient, and opportunistic.
Kvitova's road to the semifinals has also been incredibly impressive, facing down a quality opponent in every single match. She opened up the tournament against 2009 French Open quarterfinalist Sorana Cirstea, beating her in straights. She followed it up with a big second round win over No. 23 Zheng Jie, a two-time grand slam semifinalist, in three tight sets. After that she rattled off a pair of dominating wins against (probably overrated) blondes, knocking off No. 14 Victoria Azarenka and No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets, not conceding a single game in the second set of either match. She didn't play her best in the quarterfinal against qualifier Kaia Kanepi, but showed an incredible amount of guts and refusal to quit, saving five match points before coming away with the win 8-6 in the third.
Serena has not dropped a set in the tournament, and has simply been able to will her way past just about every opponent on power, experience, and intimidation alone. It might take a while for her to figure out Kvitova's rhythm, but after what could be a tight first set, she should be able to roll in the second.
Prediction: Serena in 2.
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Wimbledon: Serena Williams Finishes Off Win Over Petra Kvitova, Makes Sixth Wimbledon Final
No. 1 Serena Williams is into her third straight and sixth career Wimbledon final after a 7-6(5), 6-2 win over unseeded Petra Kvitova in the second Ladies’ Singles semifinal on Centre Court on Day 10.
Serena raced out to a 40-0 lead in the final game, but stumbled slightly in the finish, dropping two points before a netcord at 40-30 gave her the somewhat anti-climactic win.
Oddly for a straight sets win, Kvitova ended the match with more winners than Williams, hitting 24 to only 19 by the defending champion.
Serena will take on No. 21 Vera Zvonareva in the Ladies’ Singles final on Saturday. The two have met six times, with Serena winning five of the six. Serena has won both of their career meetings at a grand slam, winning at the 2002 French Open and the 2007 US Open.
Jul 01 12:00p by Ben Rothenberg - 0 comments