Venus Williams vanquished Yaroslava Shvedova 7-6(5) 6-2 in a brutal baseline shootout at Wimbledon on Tuesday to reach her first grand slam semi-final for six years.
Venus Williams vanquished Yaroslava Shvedova 7-6(5) 6-2 in a brutal baseline shootout at Wimbledon on Tuesday to reach her first grand slam semi-final for six years.
In a scrappy match, the five-times champion - the oldest woman in the draw at 36 - drew on her experience to see off the Kazakh player contesting her first Wimbledon quarter-final.
There was little to choose between the two as they slugged it out in the first set, with neither finding much rhythm. But Shvedova's challenge crumbled after she narrowly lost a tiebreak she had led 5-2.
The 28-year-old, ranked 96, made a string of errors in the second set while her seasoned American opponent - sensing her opportunity - found her range and produced a succession of winners off both flanks.
Williams, the 8th seed, advances to her first grand slam semi-final since the 2010 U.S. Open and will face Germany's fourth-seeded Angelique Kerber.
The American said she was delighted with the quarter-final victory. "If you are Serena Williams, this happens a lot - but as Venus Williams, this is an awesome day," she said referring to her sister, the world number one, who was playing later.
Kerber battles past Halep into second Wimbledon semi-final
German fourth seed Kerber outfought Romania's Simona Halep in a last-eight battle of counter-attackers on Tuesday, winning 7-5 7-6(2) to reach her second Wimbledon semi-final.
In a gloriously unpredictable and at times spectacular match, both players stretched each other's defences with an array of pinpoint topspins, slices and dropshots, but struggled with their serves.
In a first set that featured nine breaks, Halep held hers just once in six attempts, conceding the set on a double fault.
The pattern of the second set was almost as unconventional, with the German, who won her maiden grand slam title in Australia in January, failing to serve out the match at 5-4 before coming through a tiebreak that she dominated.
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