Wimbledon 2018: Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber triumph to set up repeat of 2016 ladies' singles final
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Your support makes all the difference.Serena Williams demonstrated that having a baby had not robbed her of any of her phenomenal tennis skills when she became the first mother in 38 years to reach the Wimbledon final, with a 6-2, 6-4 demolition of Germany's Julia Gorges on Thursday.
At 181st in the world, Williams is the lowest ranked player to reach the women's final but that number will fool no one, and especially not Angelique Kerber who was runner-up to the American in the 2016 final.
Kerber beat 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-3 to book her place in Saturday’s final.
Relive all the live action below:
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Order of Play – Day 11:
CENTRE COURT – SHOW COURT – 13:00 START
1 Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) [12] 17 vs Angelique Kerber (GER) [11] 49
2 Julia Goerges (GER) [13] 81 vs Serena Williams (USA) [25] 104
3 Jay Clarke (GBR) / Harriet Dart (GBR) 6 vs Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL) / Abigail Spears (USA) [10] 9
No.1 COURT – SHOW COURT – 13:00 START
1 Raven Klaasen (RSA) / Michael Venus (NZL) [13] 8 vs Frederik Nielsen (DEN) / Joe Salisbury (GBR) 28
2 Jean-Julien Rojer (NED) / Demi Schuurs (NED) [4] 17 vs Jamie Murray (GBR) / Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 30
3 Michael Venus (NZL) / Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) [9] 40 vs Ivan Dodig (CRO) / Latisha Chan (TPE) [3] 48
No.2 COURT – SHOW COURT – 11:30 START
1 Jamie Delgado (GBR) / Jonathan Marray (GBR) vs Thomas Enqvist (SWE) / Thomas Johansson (SWE) (RR)
NOT BEFORE 12.30
2 Dominic Inglot (GBR) / Franko Skugor (CRO) [15] 41 vs Mike Bryan (USA) / Jack Sock (USA) [7] 49
3 Iga Swiatek (POL) 2 vs Emma Raducanu (GBR) 11 (GS)
No.3 COURT – SHOW COURT – 11:30 START
1 Tracy Austin (USA) / Anne Keothavong (GBR) vs Iva Majoli (CRO) / Selima Sfar (TUN) (SL)
2 Wayne Ferreira (RSA) / Mark Woodforde (AUS) vs Patrick McEnroe (USA) / Jeff Tarango (USA) (OD)
3 Jeremy Bates (GBR) / Andrew Castle (GBR) vs Jacco Eltingh (NED) / Paul Haarhuis (NED) (OD)
4 Jonas Bjorkman (SWE) / Todd Woodbridge (AUS) vs Mansour Bahrami (IRI) / Goran Ivanisevic (CRO) (OD)
COURT 12 – SHOW COURT – 11:00 START
1 Anton Matusevich (GBR) 21 vs Tao Mu (CHN) 28 (BS)
2 Jack Draper (GBR) 36 vs Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) 43 (BS)
3 Nicolas Mejia (COL) [5] 49 vs Gilbert Soares Klier Junior (BRA) 63 (BS)
4 Victoria Allen (GBR) / Destinee Martins (GBR) 13 vs Yuki Naito (JPN) / Naho Sato (JPN) [6] 16 (GD)
5 Tao Mu (CHN) / Leopold Zima (GER) 13 vs Nicolas Mejia (COL) / Ondrej Styler (CZE) [6] 16 (BD)
COURT 18 – SHOW COURT – 11:00 START
1 Xiyu Wang (CHN) [10] 40 vs Cori Gauff (USA) [3] 48 (GS)
2 Xinyu Wang (CHN) [4] 17 vs Viktoriia Dema (UKR) 29 (GS)
3 Maria Lourdes Carle (ARG) / Cori Gauff (USA) [4] 9 vs Sofya Lansere (RUS) / Kamilla Rakhimova (RUS) 12 (GD)
4 Xinyu Wang (CHN) / Xiyu Wang (CHN) [1] 1 vs Leonie Kung (SUI) / Joanne Zuger (SUI) 3 (GD)
COURT 5 – 11:00 START
1 Leonie Kung (SUI) 50 vs Caty McNally (USA) [13] 57 (GS)
2 Chun Hsin Tseng (TPE) [1] 1 vs Trey Hilderbrand (USA) 15 (BS)
3 Clara Burel (FRA) / Diane Parry (FRA) [8] 17 vs Leylah Annie Fernandez (CAN) / Gabriella Price (USA) 20 (GD)
4 Ray Ho (TPE) / Chun Hsin Tseng (TPE) [1] 1 vs Rinky Hijikata (AUS) / Naoki Tajima (JPN) 4 (BD)
5 Yanki Erel (TUR) / Otto Virtanen (FIN) 18 vs Titouan Droguet (FRA) / Simon Anthony Ivanov (BUL) 20 (BD)
COURT 8 – 11:00 START
1 Jonas Forejtek (CZE) / Dalibor Svrcina (CZE) 10 vs Brandon Nakashima (USA) / Tyler Zink (USA) 11 (BD)
2 Dalayna Hewitt (USA) / Peyton Stearns (USA) 22 vs Thasaporn Naklo (THA) / Mananchaya Sawangkaew (THA) 23 (GD)
3 Jesper De Jong (NED) / Damien Wenger (SUI) 30 vs Aidan McHugh (GBR) / Timofei Skatov (KAZ) [2] 32 (BD)
4 Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) / Deney Wassermann (NED) 26 vs James Story (GBR) / Harry Wendelken (GBR) 27 (BD)
5 Francesca Curmi (MLT) / Viktoriia Dema (UKR) 30 vs Caty McNally (USA) / Whitney Osuigwe (USA) [2] 32 (GD)
COURT 11 – 11:00 START
1 Tristan Boyer (USA) / William Woodall (USA) 6 vs Matheus Pucinelli De Almeida (BRA) / Joao Lucas Reis Da Silva (BRA) 7 (BD)
2 Georgia Drummy (IRL) / Alexa Noel (USA) [7] 25 vs Amelia Bissett (GBR) / Morgan Cross (GBR) 28 (GD)
3 Sonay Kartal (GBR) / Erin Richardson (GBR) 5 vs Joanna Garland (TPE) / En Shuo Liang (TPE) [5] 8 (GD)
4 Savriyan Danilov (RUS) / Henry Von Der Schulenburg (SUI) 22 vs Hugo Gaston (FRA) / Clement Tabur (FRA) [3] 24 (BD)
COURT 14 – 11:00 START
1 Shingo Kunieda (JPN) [1] 1 vs Gustavo Fernandez (ARG) 2
2 Nicolas Peifer (FRA) 5 vs Stefan Olsson (SWE) 6
3 Katharina Kruger (GER) 3 vs Kgothatso Montjane (RSA) 4
4 Marjolein Buis (NED) 7 vs Yui Kamiji (JPN) [2] 8
COURT 17 – 11:00 START
1 Gordon Reid (GBR) 3 vs Joachim Gerard (BEL) 4
2 Stephane Houdet (FRA) 7 vs Alfie Hewett (GBR) [2] 8
3 Diede De Groot (NED) [1] 1 vs Sabine Ellerbrock (GER) 2
4 Lucy Shuker (GBR) 5 vs Aniek Van Koot (NED) 6
MATCHES TO BE ARRANGED
NOT BEFORE 17.00
1 Tommy Haas (GER) / Mark Philippoussis (AUS) vs Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) / Sebastien Grosjean (FRA) (RR)
2 Justin Gimelstob (USA) / Ross Hutchins (GBR) vs Arnaud Clement (FRA) / Miles MacLagan (GBR) (RR)
Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of today's women's semi-finals. We've got two cracking games to look forward to as the experienced Angelique Kerber goes up against young-gun Jelena Ostapenko on Centre Court.
After that, Serena Williams takes on Julia Georges as she continues to target a remarkable eighth Wimbledon title.
We'll be bringing you other updates and results from across the All England Club as the doubles and junior competitions continue.
Meanwhile, legendary tennis coach Nick Bollettieri has had his say on today's semi-final clashes:
Serena Williams will attempt to reach a Grand Slam final for the 12th straight season as she faces Julia Goerges later today.
When Williams took a leave of absence to have her first child soon after claiming her 23rd Grand Slam at the 2017 Australian Open, it appeared her streak might be under threat.
However, the 36-year-old American has quickly found a level of form that has carried her to within two wins of an eighth Wimbledon title.
Williams has every reason to be confident against 13th-seeded Goerges of Germany, who is playing in her first Grand Slam semifinal. Williams has won all three of their previous encounters, with the most recent coming at the French Open last month.
Not long until we get underway here on Centre Court. These two have never played one another before so it should make for a fascinating watch. Ostapenko's power and energy vs Kerber's experience and athleticism - who will crack first?
It appears Rafa Nadal was as surprised by Roger Federer's quarter-final exit yesterday as anyone...
Ostapenko and Kerber are currently out on court knocking-up.
Only one minute until play begins in the first ladies' semi-final of the day!
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