Serena Williams. Julia Goerges. Angelique Kerber. Jelena Ostapenko. In a women’s draw filled with plenty of twists and turns, perhaps its biggest trick is to leave us with a final four that is largely unsurprising.
Three major titlists, all with serious grass court credentials, and one upstart enjoying a career-best season. After the chaos that was the first week, it’s a pretty orderly state-of-affairs, don’t you think?
And yet, there’s still time for the script to be flipped all over again. Will it be a rematch of the 2016 final? Two new faces? Half-and-half? We’re about to find out. Read on for a look at both women’s semifinals.
Angelique Kerber (GER) [11] v Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) [12] – First on Centre
A matchup that is as tantalising as it is hard to predict, the stakes could hardly be higher for the first career meeting between Angie Kerber and Jelena Ostapenko. Both grand slam champions, both coming in off very impressive quarterfinal victories, this should be some very high-quality tennis, with a fun contrast that will see Ostapenko play puncher to Kerber’s counter-puncher. Indeed, this is likely to be a very back-and-forth affair, as while Ostapenko will surely rack up the winners, Kerber is more than capable of frustrating the Latvian, making particular use of her lefty advantage to constantly change direction and pressure her less-reliable forehand. Whether that Ostapenko forehand soars or breaks down under pressure is the key question, but in any case, it’s hard to envision a contest that is anything other than a nail biter.
Serena Williams (USA) [25] v Julia Goerges (GER) [13] – Second on Centre
With all of us still reeling from the biggest upset of an upset-filled tournament, surely Julia Goerges can’t go and top it, can she? Certainly she enters this match against Serena Williams in a similar predicament to Kevin Anderson yesterday, having never taken a set off the American in three attempts, including a ho-hum 6-3, 6-4 affair last month at Roland Garros. Making matters worse, you’d have to assume Serena had the scare she needed against Camila Giorgi to prepare her for the rest of this tournament, and will be extra-motivated to make this match far more routine. Still, you can’t completely count out Goerges, who showed in her quarterfinal against Kiki Bertens both her fighting spirit and shotmaking prowess with her forehand – she’ll need both in spades here, but realistically, lightning isn’t going to strike twice.
