LONDON: Venus Williams became the oldest Wimbledon semi-finalist for 23 years as the five-time champion brushed aside French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko, while Garbine Muguruza powered past Svetlana Kuznetsova to make it back to the last four on Tuesday.
Williams’ 73-minute masterclass on Centre Court clinched a 6-3, 7-5 victory that made her the most senior player to reach the semi-finals since Martina Navratilova in 1994.
World number 11 Williams, beaten in this year’s Australian Open final, was knocked out in the 2016 semi-finals and is chasing a first major title since winning Wimbledon in 2008.
Williams’ victory equalled her sister Serena’s total of 86 main draw match victories at Wimbledon, the most among any active player.
She will climb back into the top 10 thanks to her Wimbledon run, but breaking Serena’s record to become the tournament’s oldest champion in the Open era is her sole focus.
Twenty years after making her Wimbledon debut, Venus was playing in her 100th singles match at the All England Club, while Ostapenko was in only her eighth.
That gulf in experience was immediately apparent when Venus broke in the second game and cruised through the first set in serene fashion.
Having stunned the tennis world by becoming the first unseeded player to win the French Open last month, Ostapenko was riding an 11-match winning streak at the majors.
But Ostapenko, 20, was the youngest player left in the tournament and Venus has scythed through the draw by dispatching a series of opponents almost half her age, many of whom idolised the seven-time Grand Slam champion when they were growing up.
Williams was just too canny for the fresh-faced Ostapenko, manoeuvering her out of position time and again before delivering the kill shot.
After breaking in the third game of the second set, Williams moved into a 3-1 lead, then endured her only wobble as Ostapenko broke back.
Williams was unfazed and shattered Ostapenko’s spirit with another break before serving out a commanding win.
Muguruza powered into her second Wimbledon semi-final in the last three years with an emphatic 6-3, 6-4 win over Russian seventh seed Kuznetsova.
Since winning her maiden Grand Slam title at the French Open last year, Muguruza has struggled to return to the top and this is her first major semi-final since that Roland Garros triumph.
Muguruza, beaten by Serena in the 2015 Wimbledon final, will face Coco Vandeweghe or Magdalena Rybarikova in the last four.
The 23-year-old is being coached by Conchita Martinez, who became the only Spanish woman to win Wimbledon in 1994, and the lessons appear to have done the trick.
“I played good. I’m trying not to think a lot, just go for it and play my game. I’m happy it worked out,” Muguruza said.“It seems far away since I last made the final here. I’m a completely different player.“It means a lot to make the semi-finals again, my breakthrough was here.”
Meanwhile, three-time champion Novak Djokovic overcame an injury scare to reach the men’s quarter-finals for the ninth time and then lashed out at the Centre Court, claiming a hole has opened up on the famous surface.
The second seed needed treatment on his long-standing right shoulder injury during his 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 win over France’s Adrian Mannarino.But as well as worrying about the state of his shoulder, the 30-year-old slammed the poor quality of the All England Club courts.
“I told the chair umpire that there was a hole in the middle of the court on the service line. I showed him and he was not very pleased about it,” said Djokovic.“The courts are not great this year and many of the players feel the same. I am sure the groundsmen are the best in the world, but grass is the most complex surface to maintain.
“I have played on better courts.”Djokovic needed treatment on his right shoulder after the fifth game of the third set and a medical timeout at 4-3 to treat the same problem.
He had already summoned the doctor after just three games of the opening set.“We’ll see on the shoulder. It is something which I have been dragging back and forth for a while but I am still managing to play,” he added.Djokovic will face the Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych on Wednesday for a semi-final spot, boasting a 25-2 career record over the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up.
Results
Men 4th Round
Novak Djokovic (SRB x2) bt Adrian Mannarino (FRA) 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4
Women
Quarter-finals
Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP x14) bt Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x7) 6-3, 6-4
Venus Williams (USA x10) bt Jelena Ostapenko (LAT x13) 6-3, 7-5
