London: Serena Williams stayed on track for an eighth Wimbledon title as she fought back to beat Italian Camila Giorgi 3-6 6-3 6-4 in a fiercely contested quarter-final on Tuesday.
For the first time in the tournament, the 36-year-old was seriously challenged as unseeded Giorgi fought fire with fire to claim the first set on Centre Court.
Williams responded by raising the intensity level and began striking the ball with ferocious power to break Giorgi’s serve for the first time on her way to levelling the match. World number 52 Giorgi dropped serve to love early in the decider but hung in gamely to at least make Williams serve to reach her 35th Grand Slam semi-final and 11th at Wimbledon.
Williams stepped up to the line at 5-4 and brought up match point with an ace before completing victory when Giorgi could only push a forehand into the net.
Angelique Kerber clinched her third appearance in the last four with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Russian 14th seed Daria Kasatkina. Kerber is bidding to win the Wimbledon title for the first time after losing the 2016 final to Serena Williams.
The 30-year-old German remains on course after booking the seventh Grand Slam semi-final berth of her career.
Kerber, who won the Australian and US Open titles in 2016, plays former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko on Thursday for a place in Saturday’s final.
“I was expecting a close match. We’ve played so many tough matches,” Kerber said after she finally sealed the win on her seventh match point.
“We both played on a really high level. I was just trying to stay focused on my serve. It’s great to be in the semis.
“She was moving me very much. I was not thinking too much about the match points. I was just trying to push myself until the limits actually.”
Kerber is seeded 11th and, after a week of shock defeats for her title rivals, that makes her the highest ranked woman left in the draw.
For the first time in the Open era, not a single top 10 seed has made the quarter-finals at one of the four Grand Slams.
Kerber beat Kasatkina on grass at Eastbourne two weeks ago and again she was in control, finishing off the first set with ease before landing an early break in the second.
Kasatkina, 21, was making the first Grand Slam semi-final of her promising young career and she pushed Kerber hard in the closing stages before the German finally delivered the knockout blow.
Ostapenko earlier became the first Latvian woman to reach a Wimbledon semi-final as the former French Open champion beat Dominika Cibulkova 7-5, 6-4. Just four years ago, Ostapenko was winning the junior Wimbledon title and now the youngest player left in the women’s singles is only one win away from the final.
Ostapenko hasn’t dropped a set in her first five matches after the 12th seed battled past Slovakian world number 33 Cibulkova on Court One.
Speaking after her win, Ostapenko revealed she is playing with more freedom now she no longer has the pressure of defending the title in Paris, where she was knocked out in the first round last month.
“It’s really great to be in the semis. I’m just enjoying being here,” Ostapenko said.
“Dominika was playing great, but I’m fighting until the end and I’m gaining more confidence.”
Ostapenko also admitted she needed ice on her leg in between games after slapping herself with her hand in frustration at a missed chance.
“I hit myself when I missed a shot. It was too hard so I had to ice it,” she added.
