The match saw Williams, a seven-time champion at Wimbledon, drop a set at this year’s event for the first time.
Serena Williams rallied from a set down against Italian Camila Giorgi on Tuesday to advance to the semifinals at Wimbledon.
Williams defeated Giorgi 3-6,6-3,6-4 in 1 hour, 45 minutes on Centre Court at the All England Club. The 25th-seeded American will next face 13th-seeded German Julia Goerges on Thursday.
« I think everything right now is a little bit of a surprise, » Williams told reporters after the match. « 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.' »
Williams and Giorgi played even through the first four games of the first set before the 52nd-ranked Italian pulled away for a 5-2 advantage on her way to claiming the set. The second set was all Williams, however, as she jumped to a 4-1 lead and maintained at least a two-game advantage the rest of the way to force a decisive third set.
Williams dropped the first game of the third before claiming three in a row. She and Giorgi traded games the rest of the way, with Williams claiming victory on her first match-point attempt in the 10th game.
The match saw Williams, a seven-time champion at Wimbledon, drop a set at this year’s event for the first time. The 23-time Grand Slam winner missed the tournament in 2017 because of her pregnancy.
« I feel good, like I did better today because I had to, » Williams said. « This is only my fourth tournament back. I don’t feel pressure, or like I have to win this or lose it. I’m just here to prove that I’m back. I feel like I am, but I still have a ways to go to be back where I want to be. »
Goerges also was forced to rally in her win, overcoming 20th-seeded Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens 6-3,7-5,6-1 in 1 hour, 58 minutes. The 13th-ranked Goerges struck 36 winners compared to 19 for the 20th-ranked Bertens and won the final five games of the match.
Williams bested Goerges 6-3,6-4 in the third round of last month’s French Open.
« I played Julia in the French. That was four or five weeks ago, that doesn’t matter, » Williams said. « This is a whole new match, it’s a new surface, it’s everything. We’re starting from zero. »
German Angelique Kerber, the No. 11 seed, booked her spot in the semifinals with a 6-3,7-5 win over 14th-seeded Russian Daria Kasatkina in 1 hour, 31 minutes on Centre Court. Kerber wrapped up the victory on her seventh match-point attempt in the decisive 12th game of the second set.
« I think the whole match was really good, » said the former No. 1 Kerber, who advanced to the semifinals at Wimbledon for the second time in three years. « I think we both played on a really high level, starting from the first point. I think the last game shows how good we played both and how she was fighting until the end. »
Kasatkina had 33 winners in the match, but was undone by 31 unforced errors and seven double faults.
Kerber will next face 12th-seeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, a 7-5,6-4 winner over Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova in 1 hour, 23 minutes. Ostapenko had 32 winners, including five aces, compared to six winners for Cibulkova.
Ostapenko has yet to drop a set throughout the tournament. She is the first Latvian woman to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon and will be facing Kerber for the first time.
« I think it’s a big challenge, especially about Ostapenko where I never played against her, » Kerber said. « I mean, she won also a Grand Slam (2017 French Open). I think it will be really a good match. I think the match starts from zero. I mean, the pressure is not always on my side, since she won a Grand Slam, as well. I think that we are both looking forward to playing the semis. »
–Field Level Media
