Serena Williams has already lost two Grand Slam finals this season, and one of those setbacks has come against the woman she will face on Saturday at Wimbledon. Reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber is the challenger once again.
It will be a rematch of the Australian Open final when Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber battle for the Wimbledon title on Saturday afternoon.
Williams is leading the head-to-head series 5-2, but Kerber stunned her 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to triumph in Melbourne earlier this season. The 34-year-old American had won their previous four meetings all in straight sets and all on hard courts, the surface on which they have staged each of their seven encounters.
Just as she is against anyone on tour in just about any situation, Williams is a considerable favorite on paper. The world No. 1 boasts a 30-4 record this season and is one more win away from becoming a seven-time champion at the All-England Club. Williams has dominated her way to the title match this fortnight with victories over Amra Sadikovic, Christina McHale, Annika Beck, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Elena Vesnina, dropping only her first set against McHale in a tiebreaker.
Kerber has advanced at the All-England Club by defeating Laura Robson, Varvara Lepchenko, Carina Witthoeft, Misaki Doi, Simona Halep, and Venus Williams without surrendering a single set. Only Witthoeft and Halep even pushed the fourth-ranked German to a tiebreaker.
“A little bit of both,” Serena said when asked if she would look at Kerber as just another opponent or the one who upset her in Melbourne. “Obviously it’s significant that she beat me in Australia because that’s the last time we did play. And also just as an opponent, she’s great. She does things well. She moves excellent. She’s fun to play.”
“For sure I will go out there with a lot of confidence,” Kerber insisted. “It’s a completely new match. We are playing on grass court. She lost the (Australian Open) final against me, and I know she will go out and try everything to beat me right now. I will just try to going out there like in Australia, trying to show her, ‘okay, I’m here to win the match, as well.’ I know that I have to play my best tennis to beat her in the final here.”
That is exactly what Kerber did in Melbourne, but even her absolute peak tennis may not be enough this time around. Williams has been especially ruthless–unplayable, in fact–over the course of her last five sets dating back to an emphatic bagel of Kuznetsova. Throw some extra motivation into the mix having lost two major finals already this season and Williams should avenge her loss to Kerber in statement-making fashion.
Pick: Serena in 2
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