Kerber, Serena to meet in Wimbledon final

Angelique Kerber used her considerable experience and guile to overcome Jelena Ostapenko in a mostly one-sided Wimbledon semifinal on Thursday.

The German, a finalist at the All England Club in 2016, advanced to the title match again with a 6-3 6-3 win in 67 minutes on Centre Court.

Kerber was rock-solid as Ostapenko sprayed 36 unforced errors and she will now meet Serena Williams in a rematch of the 2016 decider after Williams beat Kerber’s compatriot Julia Goerges in a similarly one-sided semifinal on the same court.

Williams advanced to an incredible 10th Wimbledon final, less than a year after giving birth to daughter Olympia, thanks to a 70-minute, 6-2 6-4 win.

"And @serenawilliams is *still* the queen of Centre Court"

The #Wimbledon final awaits… pic.twitter.com/gn2QVgj8QZ

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 12, 2018

Kerber said she couldn’t compare this year’s success with what she’d enjoyed in 2016.

“I’m really proud to being back in the Wimbledon final after especially last year where things weren’t like I was expecting actually,” Kerber said.

“To being here again, that was a goal when I start this year, to playing good in the Grand Slams, and to reaching the finals again. It’s a great feeling. It’s still one more match to go. But I think for me it’s great.”

Kerber will appear in her fourth Grand Slam final, while Williams is through to her 30th after taking down Goerges.

“It’s her second final in three years … That’s wildly impressive,” said Williams of Kerber. “Believe me, I know she wants to go out there and win. So do I. I think it will be just like the last final, it will be a really good final. Hopefully it will be a good result.”

Goerges, who was making her major semifinal debut, is a player with plenty of weapons, notably a damaging serve and big ground game.

Yet those weapons barely troubled the 23-time major champion.

From 2-2 in the first set, Williams ran through five straight games to open a 6-2 1-0 lead. Goerges settled to get games back on serve early in the second, but unravelled in the sixth game; she erred three times and hit a backhand smash that appeared to be going out – Williams went on to win the point – to drop serve.

Serena Williams’ unforced error count in her last four matches @Wimbledon:

3R: 19
4R: 11
QF: 9
SF: 7#Wimbledon

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) July 12, 2018

Williams, conversely, was moving quickly, hitting crisply and powerfully and serving beautifully; she dropped just four first-serve points during the entire match and did not face a break point until her final service game.

That’s where the match got a little tense, when Goerges broke Serena to close the gap to 5-4.

But rather than carry on that momentum, she committed three errors and a double fault to be broken to love.

RANKINGS WATCH: is Serena set for a top-20 return?

“It’s crazy. I don’t even know how to feel. I literally didn’t expect to do this well in my fourth tournament back. I feel when I don’t have anything to lose, I can play so free, and that’s kind of what I’m doing,” said Williams, who took her winning streak at Wimbledon to 20 matches.

“Whatever happens (from here) is honestly an incredible effort for me.”

Earlier, it was the first meeting between Kerber and Ostapenko, who’d both won major titles; the former was the Australian and US Open champion of 2016, while the latter won last year’s French Open.

And for all the talk about the top-10 seeds departing the tournament, Kerber and Ostapenko were seeded 11th and 12th respectively.

This felt big.

#Wimbledon final spot booked in 67 minutes

Will we see @AngeliqueKerber lift the trophy on Saturday? pic.twitter.com/bTwiRmcHyp

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 12, 2018

And Ostapenko came out hitting big, blasting five clean winners and three errors in the opening game alone. But as the semifinal unfolded, that ratio began to invert.

Kerber presented an uncomfortable match-up for the 21-year-old, who was appearing in her first Wimbledon semifinal. Not only could be German track down most of her blows, but Kerber can play with power of her own, turning defence to attack with one shot. She also served brilliantly, landing 77 per cent of her first serves to prevent Ostapenko from attacking on the return.

She did all of that with her slightly unorthodox, left-handed action, and never let Ostapenko feel settled.

“I think the Centre Court is much slower than the other courts I played before. I think she had really many advantages because of that,” Ostapenko said. My shots were not that effective on such a slow court. But in general, I think she was defending quite well. She was serving also quite good today.”

Steady from the baseline, Kerber continually probed while Ostapenko misfired; the Latvian many times pulled the trigger too early in rallies.

After Ostapenko double-faulted to lose the first set – the first one she had dropped all tournament – the former world No.1 streaked ahead 5-1 in an anti-climactic second. Just 56 minutes had gone on the clock.

(????Eurosport) pic.twitter.com/58P4W1nvAI

— doublefault28 (@doublefault28) July 12, 2018

In a spirited seventh game, Ostapenko rediscovered her range, saved a match point with a winner and broke for 2-5, whipping up the crowd as she stalked to her chair.

When she held for 3-5 and earned a break point for 4-5, the tension was building on Centre Court.

Yet two straight return errors and a final forehand error brought an end to her fight.

“I was expecting that she is playing like she played from the beginning: really hard, pushing me back,” Kerber said. “I was trying to staying in my focus and … trying to finding my rhythm and taking my chances when I had it.

“I was trying to not thinking too much (towards the end) because I know how she played a lot of good matches where she came back from a score like that, then she has nothing to lose and she is even playing better.

“I was just trying to focusing on my serve in the last game. You never know what happen when I would lost the game for 4-5.”

On Saturday, she and Williams will meet for the third time in a Grand Slam final and ninth time overall; Serena leads the head-to-head series 6-2.