Simona Halep to face Serena Williams in ladies’ final

Simona Halep of Romania defeated Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina to book her place in the finals of the 2019 Wimbledon Tennis Championship, where she will meet seven-time champion and 11th seed, Serena Williams of the United States. WIlliams defeated unseeded Barbora Strycova of Czech Republic 6/1, 6/2 in the second semi-finals.

In the first match on Centre Court, Halep was taken to deuce on her serve before holding. Elina immediately faced a break threat at 30-40 and after being deuced, she cancelled the second break and lost three opportunities to hold before conceding the break for a 2-0 Halep lead.

A long service game wears out the server and is emotionally devastating if the server loses it. However, Halep could not consolidate as she lost the third game on her serve. Her opponent handed her another break of serve and Halep held to lead 4-1. Svitolina did not win a point on her serve as she dropped the fifth game.

Serving for the set, Halep reached 40-30 but was brought to deuce. On a third set point, she committed her third double fault of the match. She cancelled a break point but succeeded on the fifth game point to take the set 6-1.

The two players held their first three games in the second set, but Halep broke her opponent’s serve to lead 4-3 and extended the lead to 5-3 by closing the game with her only ace serve in the match.

Serving to stay in the match, Svitolina leveled at 15-all, but lost two points to face defeat at 15-40. She saved one match point but lost the second and the game 6-3.

By the victory, Simona Halep reached her frist Wimbledon finals and will face seven-time champion, Serena Williams.In the second semifinal match, Williams broke Strycova’s serve to lead 3-1 and extended the lead by winning the fifth game at love, helped by two aces.

A perfectly placed drop volley earned her the break to lead 5-1. Serving for the set, Williams sealed the game with an ace wide to Strycova’s forehand side.

In the second set, Strycova held serves to go ahead 2-1, but Williams leveled and broke serve to take the fifth game. The onslaught continued as she took the sixth game without dropping a point on her serve. Another break of serve had Wiliams serving for the match at 5-1. She lost the first and third points to 15-30, but leveled and reached 40-30 match point.

The seven-time Wimbledon champion won the game and match when a Strycova forehand landed in the net.It was a superlative performance by a mission-driven Serena. She registered only four aces and one double fault. Although she made only 63 percent of first serves, she won 89 percent of points on such deliveries. She broke her opponent’s serve four times from five opportunities while Strycova could not close the games on three break chances.