Serena Williams, Goerges, Kerber and Ostapenko Reach Semfinals; del Potro Completes Fourth Round Win at Wimbledon
(July 10, 2018) Seven-time champion Serena Williams reached her 11th Wimbledon semifinal on Tuesday with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Camila Giorgi of Italy. The American lost her first set of the tournament during the match. She upped her aggressive play on court and never looked back.
The 36-year-old Williams, a 23-time major winner, is playing in her fourth tournament since coming back from having a baby girl. Despite the many comebacks and challenges in her life as a tennis pro, it’s still a shock to her to have come this far at the All-England Club.
“I think everything right now is a little bit of a surprise,” She said. “To be here, to be in the semifinals. I mean, I always say I plan on it, I would like to be there, have these goals. But when it actually happens, it still is, like, Wow, this is really happening.”
Serena will play Julia Goerges in her semifinal. Goerges advanced to her first Wimbledon semifinal with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over 20th seed Kiki Bertens.
“I played Julia in the French,” said Serena. “That was four or five weeks ago. That doesn’t matter. This is a whole new match, it’s a new surface, it’s everything. We’re starting from zero.
“I’m going to go out there and just do what I can, do my best, see what happens.”
Williams has a 3-0 record against the German.
“It’s different now obviously because I have the baby,” Williams said in terms of being in this position at Wimbledon 10 time before. “Being a mom is totally different. Still have to think, Wow, I’m a mom. Every day it’s different for me.
“Just having an opportunity to win, win matches, just matches in general, with a daughter at home.”
For Goerges, she had never made it past the third round in her 10 tries at Wimbledon was knocked out in the first round for the past five straight years.
“Well, probably I don’t have many words today to describe the moment I’m going through right now,” said the German. “It’s pretty unreal for me at the moment to get to that stage at a Grand Slam. It’s been obviously always a dream for every player, to be in a semis in Wimbledon.
“Well, but I’m just very glad the way I handled everything today because it wasn’t an easy match at all. It was quite tough. I thought, yeah, I was maybe the better player in the first set but didn’t actually take the chances I would have loved to take. But still found a way to somehow come back and close out that match.”
Asked about her match-up against Serena, she said: “Honestly, I haven’t thought about that matchup yet because it’s been very close to my last victory. I will start thinking about that match tomorrow probably.
“Well, obviously she has won so many titles here, not only here, a lot of Grand Slams beside Wimbledon. Well, it’s a great opportunity for me to meet her at that stage. It’s an honor to share the court with her.
“But I will sort out some tactics with my team tomorrow and we’ll be ready for Thursday.”
“I changed my approach to the surface (grass-courts),” she said. “It started last year already. We took David Prinosil to our team. He explained me a few things, how I can be dangerous on grass court, as well, that I have to accept certain balls, certain circumstances on that surface, which I didn’t do the years before. It was just, like, more probably the view of the surface and the view of the rallies you have, how you want to structure your point, as well.
“There will be some rallies where you cannot do something, but you still need to accept that these things are going to happen, maybe in some important moments as well. You just have to get through them.
“I think this match today was an example how much I’ve grown in this department, how much I’ve accepted. As I said, I thought I was the better player but I lost the set because I wasn’t taking my chances. I was waiting to get another one and another one. Managed to find a way somehow. I think this is the best example for the mentality I’ve changed.”
For the first time since 1931, two German women will be playing in the final four at the All-England Club. Angelique Kerber advanced to the semifinals with a win over Daria Kasatikina 6-3, 7-5.
“It sounds pretty cool, I think,” Goerges said. “First of all, I think it’s great for German tennis. I don’t know what to say to be in a semifinal and Angie is in a semifinal as well. I think Angie did a much better job than I did the last years because she was almost in every semifinal.
“To really share this feeling with her, with a nation, I think that’s something which is pretty special. It sounds crazy to maybe have the chance to share a German final in Wimbledon. Well, it’s still one more match to go for both of us. It will be both, yeah, very tough matches. But it’s great to see there is a chance.”
No. 11 Kerber is the highest women’s seed left to reach the quarterfinals. It’s the first time since Wimbledon seeding began that none of the top ten players made it to the quarterfinals.
“I think the whole match was really good,” said Kerber. “I think we both play on a really high level, starting from the first point. Yeah, I think the last game shows how good we played both and how she was fighting until the end.
“I think that’s the matches why we are here and why we are trying to playing our best. Yeah, I’m happy that I won it at the end in two sets.”
Kerber will play No. 12 seed Jelena Ostapenko on Thursday for a place in the final. Ostapenko beat Dominika Cibulkova 7-5, 6-4.
I knew I had to play aggressive because if not otherwise she had all the opportunities to go for winners,” said he Latvian woman. “I was just trying to go for the shots when I had to.
“Of course, at the beginning I didn’t start the match that well, but then I felt my game, played more confident.”
As for playing Kerber, the 2017 French Open winner said: “she’s great player. It’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be a tough match. But I’m going to prepare well for it, going to be probably long rallies. I have to be very confident, aggressive, and consistent.”
Juan Martin del Potro completed a match held over from Monday, he beat France’s Gilles Simon 7-6, 7-6, 5-7 7-6 to reach the final eight.
The Argentine will play No. 2 seed and world No. 1 Rafael Nadal next.
“Well, hopefully I feel good for tomorrow,” said a tired del Potro. “I been doing treatment already, looking forward for being ready for tomorrow. But I think I will be in good conditions. My body feels okay. Normally I feel a little bit tired. It’s a big chance for me to face Rafa tomorrow.”
“Well, it will be a different match that we played in Paris few weeks ago,” he explained in terms of playing Nadal. “I will try to hold my service games most of the time. If I want to beat him, I have to come to the net very often and play hard with my forehands, with my backhands, and try to take all the chances.”
“Well, everybody knows the favorites are Roger and Rafa. But the other six players are fighting for that big goal, as well. It could be a surprise this year. You never know. We always want to win the title like this, but is not easy to beat these guys in this big event.
“If I’m quarterfinalist, that’s means I have a chance to keep going.”
