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Those who imagined that Serena Williams might be in danger of succumbing to another first-time Grand Slam semi-finalist found themselves rapidly thinking again.
The shock of her defeat by Roberta Vinci at the US Open last year may never dissipate; but on the Centre Court there was never the faintest likelihood that the world No.50 Elena Vesnina might replicate that achievement.
The 21-time Slam champion blitzed through 6-2, 6-0 in just 48 minutes, making it by far the fastest and cheapest of her five career wins over the Russian. Just about every match statistic was a disaster zone for Vesnina, but one above all else highlighted how far she was from mounting any challenge to her opponent.
On Serena’s serve, where any opponent must make an impact to have the vaguest chance of victory, Vesnina gleaned a total of three points in the first set. That turned out to be a runaway success by comparison with the second, which yielded precisely no return points at all for the Russian.
As usual the victor paused on exiting the court for a chat with the BBC, and in this case Serena chose somewhat sweetly and mystifyingly to refer to “a lot of tough matches” she and Vesnina have shared in the past.
In fact from the eight sets comprising their previous four encounters, Vesnina had averaged just over two games per set.
But naturally Serena’s satisfaction was understandable – she was through to her ninth Wimbledon final, and as a result is assured of holding on to the world No.1 spot for the 178th straight week when the new rankings are released next Monday.
“I’m very happy,” declared Serena. “I was really focused because we’ve had a lot of tough matches before. I knew she could really bring it to me on this surface. It’s never easy. You have to fight for every point. It’s weird to reach my ninth final here. I can’t believe I’m in the final again. Obviously I’m 0-for-2 so I’m determined to get at least one this year.”
That 0-for-2, of course, refers to her defeats at the Australian Open and Roland Garros in 2016, to Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza respectively. And that declaration of intent was intriguingly phrased (to those of us who like to pick apart these things) in the light of a throwaway remark she made in her pre-tournament press conference here. She touched on a tactic she uses when playing on very familiar territory: “I try to create a new moment every time I walk out there,” she said.
So it did not matter that this was her 10th Wimbledon semi-final, with a view to reaching her ninth final, or any other of those career statistics involving repeated achievement. In this semi-final, which seemed such a walkover to observers, part of that demolition was secured by redefining it in her own mind to give it a specific context, separate from any other time she has reached the last four of a Slam. That is part of her genius.
She may now have reached her ninth Wimbledon final but, to the woman who has done it all before, reaching the last two of the 2016 Championships is still unique. And of course, she is one step closer to that elusive 22nd Grand Slam.
