The Williams sisters won’t meet in the 2016 Wimbledon women’s final – Serena turned up to play in the semis, but Venus left her undoubted talent in the locker room.
Serena was at her awesome best, with spectators genuinely feeling sorry for the hapless 50th ranked Elena Vesnina.
Serena cruised home 6-2 6-0 in just 48 minutes, losing one point on her first serve, and just two on her second.
In the process, Serena smoked 28 winners to nine in earning 58 points overall to just 21.
In 41 previous Slam starts, Vesnina has never been past the fourth round, so to reach the semis for the first time in her career, was special.
It’s been a different story during Vesnina’s doubles career, where she’s seeded seventh. The Russian has won to Slam doubles titles – the French in 2013, and the US in 2014.
But Vesnina has also appeared in five losing doubles finals – 2010 Wimbledon, 2011 French, 2014 Australia, 2015 Wimbledon, and the French just weeks ago – Vesnina can play.
But nobody could have lived with Serene last night. It wasn’t only her powerhouse serving, but ground strokes that left her racquet on both wings like laser beams.
Not so with either Venus or Angelique Kerber in the second semi.
The first five service games were all breaks – Venus responsible for three of them.
The 6-4 6-4 scoreline to Kerber in one hour 11 minutes would suggest it was an even semi clash – far from it. You could have had any odds about Venus losing seven of her ten service games, and Kerber losing four.
In the wash-up, Venus cracked more winners, 24-15, but made more unforced errors – 21-11.
Despite all the breaks, so unbecoming a semi-final, Kerber won 63 points to 58.
So Wimbledon will be a replay of the Australian Open final, where Kerber was the shock winner in three sets.
Serena leads 5-1 head-to-head, but they have never met on grass.
Tonight in the men’s semis, Roger Federer is facing hard-hitting Canadian Milos Raonic, while Andy Murray takes on Tomas Berdych.
The big question is whether Federer and Murray have enough left in the tank after their tension-filled and energy-sapping five-setters last Wednesday night.
Head-to-head, Federer leads Raonic 9-2, with the Swiss winning twice on grass at Halle 2014, and the Wimbledon semis in 2014.
Murray leads Berdych 8-6, but this is their first meeting on grass.
Federer’s heading for an all-time record eighth Wimbledon success, Murray his second.
That would be one helluva decider.
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