By Ron Wynn
Serena Williams finally dropped a set at Wimbledon Wednesday, but then reasserted her dominance and reached the Wimbledon semifinals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Italy’s Camila Giorgi. Williams came into the event ranked 163 in the world due to her absence from the tour on maternity leave. But she had moved through the opening four rounds without dropping a set, and with seeded players falling left and right, definitely seems the favorite for an eighth Wimbledon crown.
But she began slowly in Wednesday’s quarterfinal, her powerful serve erratic, and Giorgi’s counter-attack philosophy seeming to work. Then Williams turned things up a notch, and began playing like the longtime number one player she’s previously been. When things were over, she had reached the semifinals for the 11th time.
“Everything right now is a little bit of a surprise,” Williams told the Associated Press. “To be here. To be in the semifinals. I mean, I always say I plan on it, I would like to be there, have these goals. But when it actually happens, it still is like, Wow, this is really happening.”
It sometimes is easy to forget that Williams is not only 36, but only playing in her fourth tournament overall and second Grand Slam event since having a baby only 10 months ago. “It’s weird,” Williams added. “Sometimes I feel, Man I’m in trouble. Sometimes I feel, I can fight. For whatever reason, today I was so calm. Even when I was down the first set, I thought, ‘Well, she’s playing great. I’m doing a lot of the right things.”
Williams faced number 13 seed Julia Goerges of Germany in her next match Thursday. Goerges defeated number 20 seed Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.
