Top seed Serena Williams successfully defended her Wimbledon title today, beating German fourth seed Angelique Kerber in straight sets 7-5, 6-3. Both players have been in fine form, but a first set win for Williams gave her the momentum she needed to proceed. The second set saw Williams thoroughly dominate her rival, with athletic displays from both players.
With the win, she now has the most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era, at 22.
Serena Williams, with 21 Grand Slams, had been looking to equal the record set by German ace Steffi Graf in 1999 with her win at the French Open. Former World No. 1 Graf has an all-time Open Era high of 22 Grand Slam titles, the highest of any player, male or female. The only man close to that record is former World No. 1 Roger Federer, who has 17 and came close to a potential 18th title before crashing out at the semi-finals of the men’s singles to Canadian ace Milos Raonic.
Australia’s Margaret Court has 24, but this is not an Open Era record. Incidentally, Margaret Court was on Centre Court tonight to witness Serena’s history-making performance.
Williams had been trying to break the record since the US Open last year. She had then crashed out in the semi-finals to Italy’s Roberta Vinci, who today congratulated her on her 22nd Grand Slam.
Serena made the finals of both Grand Slams before Wimbledon, but missed out on the title each time – at the Australian Open in Melbourne, she lost out to her rival today, Angelique Kerber, w
Oldest ever Wimbledon champion
Prior to Williams, Czech-American ace Martina Navratilova won won Wimbledon at 33 years old in 1990. At 34 years old, Williams is now the oldest Wimbledon champion of the Open Era. Navratilova still remains the most successful player at Wimbledon, with nine singles titles here. Among the men, it is Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and English player William Renshaw who each hold seven titles at SW19.
And she’s playing the doubles finals tonight!
Serena and sister Venus Williams, who are unseeded in the women’s doubles, will play the final against Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova, who ousted top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza from the tournament earlier.
Venus ousted Shvedova in the quarter-finals of the women’s singles earlier, finishing in the semi-finals after a loss to Angelique Kerber, while Serena will be on a high from her singles win. It’s looking likely that Williams will win both the singles and doubles titles the same day this year.
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