Seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams is in the final four of Wimbledon and an ominous presence for the rest of the remaining challengers. She was given a good challenge in her quarterfinal match against an impressive Alison Riske though. Barbora Stycova managed to silence Centre Court on Tuesday as she produced some wonderfully tactical tennis to knock out British number one Jo Konta.
Serena Williams v Barbora Strycova Odds*
Serena Williams 1/4
Barbora Strycova 3/1
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on July 9th, 2019 at 10:27 pm)
Can Williams reach the Wimbledon semi-finals?
Serena Williams had a tough battle on her hands in the fourth round of Wimbledon on Tuesday. She was up against her compatriot Alison Riske and was taken to the three sets. Williams had looked as if she was just going up through the gears, getting better in the tournament, but she had a sluggish time of things against Riske winning 6-4 4-6 6-3. Williams was broken pretty early in the opening set and looked out of sorts. Riske has knocked out world number one Ashleigh Barty in the previous round.
After the two traded more breaks in the first set, Williams landed the telling blow to win the opener 6-4. But then Riske broke late in the second set to drive towards levelling up the fixture. The future of Williams in the tournament looked bleak when she dropped her first service game in the deciding set. But then found her groove just at the right time to take the match win in just over two hours. Williams is dealing with a bit of a knee injury and she admitted that a couple of weeks ago, she wouldn’t have been able to win that match.
Head to head
It is all Williams in the head to head. She has won all three previous meetings against Strycova. Interestingly all three of those previous meetings were in Grand Slams. The one previous meeting at Wimbledon happened back in 2012 with Williams taking a 6-2 6-4 win.
Will Strycova rise to the occasion to beat Wiliams?
Strycova will have taken a lot of positives from the way that Alison Riske really attacked Serena in the fourth round. Styrcova herself had a tough match in the round as she was facing Johanna Konta. Strycova fell behind early on in the opening set under one way traffic but the started picking on the forehand of Konta and worked her way back into the fixture. She gathered momentum and then won a tie break which she really never looked like doing, to sweep up the first set.
The Czech player didn’t look back as Konta had no response to her brilliant tactical approach. She will need all of her tactical nous and then some against Williams. Konta adds to the list of top players that Strycova has dispatched from Wimbledon this year, including four of the top 32. In the two rounds prior to meeting Konta, Strycova had beaten Kiki Bertens and Elise Mertens with impressive performances. She’s on her game at the moment, and this is her first-ever Grand Slam semi-final.
Predictions
Strycova continues to surprise and she is loving every minute of her time in court. You can see it in the celebrations of the 33-year-old. She was a heavy underdog against Konta, but it was the tactical adjustments which she made that got her through. But then there is the much heavier hitting of Williams to deal with, who is a much more powerful server than Konta. It could be the difference-maker. Serena Williams 2-0 set betting at 8/11* (betting odds taken from bet365 on July 9th, 2019 at 10:27 pm).
