By Chris Oddo | Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Serena Williams needed everything she had to get past a defiant Victoria Azarenka in an entertaining, intense Wimbledon quarterfinal.
Photo Source: Ian Walton/Getty
Many years from now tennis connoisseurs will recline back in their armchairs to debate the greatness of Serena Williams, but on Tuesday at Wimbledon the tennis world perched on the edge of its seats to bear witness as Williams threw down the hammer to suppress another uprising from a very spunky Victoria Azarenka.
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In the end it took just about every ounce of bedazzling tennis that Williams had in her—46 winners vs. 12 unforced errors’ worth—because Azarenka would not relent despite the severity of the challenge she was up against.
After dropping the opener to Azarenka for the sixth time in their 20 career meetings, Williams powered through, unleashing a barrage of near-perfect serves and groundies to notch her 26th consecutive Grand Slam victory, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The match lasted two hours and three minutes and nearly every second of it was hotly contested and supercharged with the electricity that these two rivals have become accustomed to producing for fans.
“It’s such a great atmosphere to be out here and playing and doing the best that we can,” said Williams in a BBC interview after the match. “I think we both really enjoyed it.”
It was Azarenka who enjoyed the opening set more as the Belarussian rushed out to an early lead and never let it slip, saving the only break point she faced and ripping a forehand winner to clinch a stanza that featured eight winners against only three unforced errors.
But the 72 percent first-serve percentage that Azarenka managed in the opener proved difficult to maintain (she dipped to 60 in the second and 59 in the third), and her lead slowly started to evaporate away as Williams continued to pester her second serve while staying relatively error-free.
Azarenka would hold to level at 2-all in the second, but the 12-minute game that saw her save three break points would take its toll. She dropped the next seven games to find herself level at a set apiece and trailing 2-0 in the decider before finally getting back the elevated set that saw her take the early lead.
Though Azarenka righted the ship, and even had a break opportunity to get back on serve with Williams serving for the match, there would be no stopping the 20-time major champion—not on this day.
Williams’s victory marks the sixth time in eight deciding sets with Azarenka that the American has come away with the victory, a streak that includes the last four and all five deciding sets contested at majors.
It’s more proof that Serena is not only the most talented woman in tennis right now, she’s also the best at delivering in the clutch. It’s been up and down and up and down,” said Williams, who was two points from being shocked by Great Britain’s Heather Watson in the third round before easing past her sister Venus in the round of 16 on Monday. “But somehow I’m still alive. I don’t know how. We’ll see what happens, I’m just happy to be here.”
Williams will face Maria Sharapova in the semifinals on Thursday. The world No. 1 is currently in possession of a 16-match winning streak against Sharapova, dating back to back-to-back losses to the Russian which occurred in 2004.
Sharapova has lost the last eleven sets to Williams, with their last match coming at this year’s Australian Open final, which was won by Williams by the score of 6-3, 7-6(5).