Wimbledon 2018: Serena to face Kerber in final

It will be Angelique Kerber’s fourth Grand Slam final.

July 12, 2018 06:56 pm | Updated 10:50 pm IST - London

Serena Williams with an easy victory over Julia Goerges entered her 30th Grand Slam final.

Serena Williams with an easy victory over Julia Goerges entered her 30th Grand Slam final.

Seven-time champion Serena Williams reached the Wimbledon final for the 10th time on Thursday and will face Germany's Angelique Kerber for the title.

The 25th seeded American downed German 13th seed Julia Goerges 6-2, 6-4 to book her place in her 30th Grand Slam final.

The 36-year-old, who will be in her first final at the majors since giving birth to daughter Olympia last year, can equal Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 Slam titles if she beats Kerber in what will be a repeat of the 2016 final at the All England Club.

Kerber proves too solid

Germany's Angelique Kerber proved too solid for error-strewn Latvian Jelena Ostapenko as she reached her second Wimbledon final with a 6-3 6-3 victory on Thursday.

Germany’s Angelique Kerber in action during the women’s semifinal match against Jelena Ostapenko at the Wimbledon 2018 tennis championship in London on July 12, 2018.

Germany’s Angelique Kerber in action during the women’s semifinal match against Jelena Ostapenko at the Wimbledon 2018 tennis championship in London on July 12, 2018.

 

The 30-year-old was gifted point after point as Ostapenko's aggressive game backfired in a blaze of unforced errors.

A tight tussle looked in store at 3-3 in the first set but when Ostapenko fired a forehand long to drop serve the match quickly ran away from her.

She double-faulted on set point and Kerber, who served well and defended superbly when required to fend off Ostapenko's sporadic attacks, accelerated into a 5-1 lead.

Ostapenko suddenly began to land some big blows, clawing back a couple of games and had a point to narrow the deficit to a single game as Kerber showed late nerves.

But Kerber nipped the recovery in the bud and booked a Saturday date back on Centre Court when Ostapenko rammed a forehand wide.

She will face either seven-times champion Serena Williams or fellow German Julia Georges in the final.

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