Wimbledon: Serena Williams restores some order
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Top-seeded and defending champion Serena Williams stuck out her tongue, smiled and dipped her head. She had just beaten ninth-seeded Chinese veteran Li Na, 7-5, 6-3, Tuesday and advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals. On her white tennis shoes Williams has three little pink hearts, and in the middle are the years 2002, 2003 and 2009. Those are the years she has won Wimbledon. Next year, she might need another heart.
It seems a clear path now to a fourth championship for Williams. With her second-ranked and second-seeded sister Venus Williams plus eighth-seeded and defending U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters upset in other women’s quarterfinals matches Tuesday, Serena brought some sanity back to the draw.
Williams hit 11 aces despite, as she said, not having a great prematch practice and being ‘nervous’ before the match, but she never appeared to be in any danger of losing to a 28-year-old who had been to the quarterfinals here one other time.
Williams had six unforced errors, and Li managed only two break points on Williams’ big serve (she converted one).
-- Diane Pucin in Wimbledon, England