It’s already time for the semi-finals at Wimbledon and five-time champion Venus Williams takes on British No.1 . Johanna Konta in today’s big WTA match. One player is considered one of the greatest of all time, while the other has firm fan support.
In the first semi-final, former French Open champion Garbine Muguruza takes on Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova, who has been a revelation this Wimbledon.
Here’s what to expect:
Venus Williams vs Johanna Konta
This will be quite the big match to start things off. British No. 1 and sixth seed Johanna Konta is riding on her career-best Wimbledon performance, and fresh off a tense upset of World No. 2 Simona Halep.
Williams is a five-time champion at Wimbledon, and after Roger Federer the most decorated player in the draw. Grass has long been the American ace’s pet surface, and she has proved that against a series of powerful opponents, most recently Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko; the 20-year-old recently won her first ever WTA title at the French Open.
The two have played each other 5 times on tour so far, with Konta only narrowly leading that record at 3-2 – but even in her losses, Williams has put up close fights, taking a set off Konta despite an eventual loss at Stanford last year.
At their most recent match at the 2017 Rome Masters on clay, it was Williams who won 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.
While Konta considers grass her favourite surface, it is by far Williams who has been the most successful on that surface, but it has been a long time since the American ace was in the finals. The last time came eight years ago, when she, as defending champion, lost to younger sister Serena Williams.
This is only the second time Konta has made the semi-finals of a Grand Slam, first achieving that feat at the Australian Open in 2016 where she was beaten by eventual champion Angelique Kerber.
The one big thing Venus may perhaps have to watch out for is the partisan crowds at Wimbledon, who caused quite an uproar at an otherwise incredibly-played match between Konta and World No. 2 Simona Halep.
Prediction: Venus Williams to win in three sets
Garbine Muguruza vs Magdalena Rybarikova
Former French Open champion Garbine Muguruza topped out in form in 2016, but appeared to peter out in the latter half of the year with some hits and misses in form, ending the note on a relative low compared to her Grand Slam win early on in the season.
She has appeared to be moving back towards that form in 2017 in recent weeks, however. This January, the Spanish ace made the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the first time in her career, having trumped former World No.1 Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets in Brisbane earlier.
Although Muguruza did not have the ideal hard-court season, the 23-year-old, like many Spanish players most comfortable on clay, has yet to drop a set coming into the semi-finals – and yet again beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets.
But she might face some tough competition in Magdalena Rybarikova. The 28-year-old Slovakian player has a dead-even record against Muguruza at 2 matches apiece of the four they have played, and defeated Muguruza in the only grass-court meeting they have ever had – at Birmingham in 2015. Rybarikova won that match convincingly – 6-3, 6-1, and the older player has always been quite the thorn in her rival’s side.
At the pair’s first ever meeting – and only meeting at a Grand Slam– at the 2013 Australian Open, Rybarikova took Muguruza to a long decider – that ended 14-12 in favour of the Spaniard – so this will not be an easy win should Muguruza take it.
Rybarikova also dumped tournament favourite Karolina Pliskova out of the tournament, as well as powerful server CoCo Vandeweghe, so this will not be an easy task for 14th seed Muguruza
Given Rybarikova has won in the pair’s only grass-court meeting – and put up a close contest at Majors, we predict she will pull off the upset here.
Prediction: Magdalena Rybarikova to win in three sets
