As Wimbledon enters the business end of the second week, The Gryphon previews the two semi-final clashes on the women’s side of the draw.

Serena Williams v Maria Sharapova

This match-up has been heavily one-sided in the American’s favour. 33-year-old Williams is still looking as menacing as she has ever done, and it seems a tall order for Sharapova to overturn a 16-match losing streak against the World No.1. Half the battle will be psychological for the Russian, who must have started to become demoralised at her lack against her biggest nemesis (her last victory over Williams came in 2004). 2004 also happens to be the last time that Sharapova lifted the Venus Rosewater dish as a prodigious 17-year-old. Since then, she has found the going tough at SW19, only making the final one in her last ten visits – a loss to Petra Kvitova in straight sets. Despite the debilitating shoulder problems that have dogged her throughout her career, it is still surprising that she has only won five Grand Slams. Serena has also gone through a fallow period at the All England Club, with her last title coming in 2012, before defeats to Sabine Lisicki and Alize Cornet in her last two tournaments got in the way of her aim to become the most successful female tennis player of the Open era. Serena currently holds 20 majors, just behind Steffi Graf on 22. She could take another giant step to eclipsing the great German with victory this afternoon.

One crumb of comfort for the Russian will be that Williams has endured the more difficult run to the semi-finals. After comfortable wins over Margarita Gasparyan and Timea Babos, Briton Heather Watson gave her illustrious opponent an almighty scare. A fairly routine win over her sister Venus followed, before there was another stern examination of her credentials, this time by Victoria Azarenka. Sharapova by contrast has enjoyed serene progress to this stage, with her only real test coming from Coco Vandeweghe. The Russian will hope that Serena’s two gruelling matches have taken their toll, but this seems unlikely.

Verdict: Three-set Serena win

Garbine Muguruza v Agnieszka Radwanska

There is much more of an even head-to-head record between these two (2-2). The Pole comfortably saw off her younger opponent for the combined loss of just nine games in their opening two outings, while the Venezuelan-born Spaniard has had the upper hand in their two 2015 encounters, including a tense three-set battle in Sydney at the beginning of the year. The match should be an intriguing combination of styles. At 6’0’’, Muguruza certainly has the bigger shots, and her serve and her forehand should be big weapons this afternoon. Radwanska stands at 5’8’’ and does not quite have the same punch in her groundstrokes. However, she possesses one of the best defensive games on the Tour, and her ability to get down low to return is unrivalled (she pretty much has a monopoly over the ‘crouch-shot’). Her unforced error count is also very low.

Given that Muguruza is only 21, it is to be expected that her Grand Slam pedigree is not that impressive yet. She did though win her first title in January 2014 in Hobart, before backing that up with an appearance in the final of a tournament in Brazil. She also destroyed Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2 during the second round of Roland Garros in May that year.

Radwanska is five years older and has already been in 21 WTA finals to date, winning an impressive 14 of them. Her most consistent spell came between the summers of 2011 and 2012 when she appeared in six finals, winning all of them. That period of time also took in a Grand Slam final (the only one she has reached so far) at SW19. She may never get a better opportunity to replicate that feat.

Of the two, it is the World No.20 who has had the toughest matches. She scraped past unseeded Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in round two, before dumping tenth seed Angelique Kerber out after a nervy battle. Her next victim was another higher-ranked opponent, fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki who was comfortably disposed in straight sets. Muguruza made it a hat-trick of underdog victories by seeing off Timea Bacsinszky to get to this stage.

Radwanska’s progress has been far less complicated. She did not drop a set during the first week, and then defeated Petra Kvitova’s conqueror Jelena Jankovic in the fourth round. She was then pushed all the way by Madison Keys, with the 20-year-old American bludgeoning home 48 winners. That sort of physical opponent will be good preparation for the fourteenth seed, who will most likely meet Serena in the final if she overcomes today’s opponent.

This match will be a close-run affair

Verdict: Muguruza three-set win

 

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