Venus Williams reached her first Grand Slam semi-final since 2010 following her 7-6 6-2 victory against Yaroslava Shvedova in the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon Championships 2016.
Venus, a five-time champion here, shattered records as she became the oldest player to reach the last-four stage of a major since Martina Navratilova did so back in 1994 at the All England Club.
The encounter kicked-off with the duo breaking each other’s service game once each before the American held her nerves to edge past her Kazakh opponent in a closely-fought tiebreaker.
Venus carried on the momentum in the second, breaking Shvedova at 2-1 up. She, then, picked up four games in a row to cruise for a commanding 5-1 lead before closing it out on serve.
Although Venus was defensive of the two, she managed to counter Shvedova’s power-packed shots with some superior placement that saw her emerge victorious in an hour and 42 minutes.
“What a tough day on the court,” the 36-year-old reflected on her triumph. “She played so well. What a day it was against an opponent who was on fire.
“I love playing the game and when you’re winning it makes it that much sweeter. I would love to be walking towards the final, and progress made today.”
Up next for her awaits a stern challenge in reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber.
