adminWilliams will start as the hot favourite on Saturday having beaten Polish world number three Radwanska in their two meetings without dropping a set, including the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2008 where the American lost just four games.
Williams played two doubles matches on Wednesday with sister Venus, but showed no signs of fatigue against Azarenka, taking the first set courtesy of eight aces and 20 winners, while allowing her opponent just four points on the American’s serve.
That was the first set dropped by the 22-year-old Belarusian at the tournament.
Buoyed by a 7-1 winning record against the Australian Open champion, who could have retaken the world number one spot had she won, Williams broke for a 2-1 lead in the second set, secured with a sweeping forehand service return.
Azarenka hit back to level at 3-3 and then saved a match point in the tiebreak.
But the record 24th ace, blitzed right down the middle, gave Williams a deserved win.
Meanwhile, Agnieszka Radwanska has set her sights on making more history after becoming the first Polish Grand Slam finalist for 73 years as the world number three cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the Wimbledon semi-finals yesterday. Radwanska’s first appearance in a Grand Slam final emulates the achievement of compatriot Jadwiga Jedrzejowska, who reached the pre-Open era French Championships final in 1939.
Jedrzejowska lost that French final and was also beaten in the Wimbledon and US Championships finals in 1937, so Radwanska is well aware she would write her name in tennis history as the first Polish winner of a major if she beats Serena Williams in Saturday’s final.
“I know that she was the finalist here many years ago. I’m just very happy that I’m the second one to be in the Wimbledon final,” Radwanska said. I think she lost in three sets that year but now I will try to win the final.”
Radwanska faces a daunting task against four-time Wimbledon champion Serena, who hammered down a record 24 aces in her semi-final victory over world number two Victoria Azarenka. — AFP.
Online Reporter