Kerber, Williams sisters through to last four
July 5, 2016Kerber, the fourth seed, prevailed 7-5 7-6 in a hard-hitting Centre Court contest against fifth-seeded Romanian Halep in a match that featured 13 breaks of serve.
“When did somebody who dropped serve six times still win a quarterfinal at Wimbledon,” Kerber, the only woman yet to drop a set, said.
Next up for the German left hander is five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, who dispatched Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 7-6 6-2 to reach the last four for the first time since 2009.
Oldest woman
The oldest woman to make the semifinals at a major in 22 years at 36, Venus was joined in the last four by sister Serena.
The world number one and top seed, a six-time winner at the All England Club and the defending champion, thumped Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 6-4 to set up a meeting with another Russian, unseeded Elena Vesnina.
Serena is chasing a 22ndGrand Slam singles title to match Steffi Graf’s Open Era record.
“We are playing doubles later so we’re just glad to both get through to the semifinals,” Serena said.
“I was just trying to win my match, I had a tough opponent,” added the 34-year-old American. “If I can’t get any further then I definitely want Venus to win.”
The men’s quarterfinals take place on Wednesday, with British second seed Andy Murray and third-seeded Swiss Roger Federer taking on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marin Cilic respectively.