Serena Williams into Wimbledon semi-finals with win over Camila Giorgi

Rodina, who like Williams combines a tennis career with motherhood, looked overawed at first as she went 3-0 down. Williams will next face Italy’s Camila Giorgi, who beat American Madison Brengle 6-4, 6-4.

Ultimately, Williams found a way to win, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, but Giorgi gave her all she could handle.

In a tournament that has been defined by all of the top seeds falling early and shrinking in tough moments, Williams showed exactly why she is always among the game’s best, even if her ranking doesn’t reflect it. ‘I don’t know what to say right now. So it’s really cool.

Kerber is through after a straight-sets win over Russian youngster Daria Kasatkina.

Ostapenko became the first Latvian woman to make the last four at the All England Club with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Dominika Cibulkova on a windy No. 1 Court. In a tournament where the top 10 women’s players have been eliminated, Giorgi hadn’t faced a seeded player since her first-round win over No. 21 Anastasija Sevastova.

Wimbledon (CNN) Serena Williams may have been out of the grand slam game for roughly 16 months as she started a family, but when her back is against the wall – as one opponent put it last month – the real Serena still comes out.

Kerber, seeded No 11, is now the highest-ranked player remaining in the tournament and is among the favourites to lift the trophy. He next faces Raonic, who defeated Mackenzie McDonald of the US 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2. “On the other side, I like to play on grass”.

“I didn’t quite take my chances in the first set but tried to stay calm and keep working for the points”, added Goerges.

Or when, about 10 minutes later, she stretched for a lunging backhand victor to break at love and take control of the third set, then raised a fist, figuring a berth in her 11th semifinal at the All England Club was close at hand.

“I don’t think this has happened to this extreme”.

It also took her until her 42nd Grand Slam appearance to finally get through to the last four at a major.

Williams responded by raising the intensity level and began striking the ball with ferocious power to break Giorgi’s serve for the first time on her way to levelling the match.

However, a huge missed opportunity to break in the second proved the turning point and Williams hit the accelerator, outgunning Giorgi in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph that edges her closer to the final and a record-tying 24th Slam. The issue: a pectoral injury that, at the time, left some doubts that she could play at Wimbledon.

Against Bertens, she won 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 in one hour and 57 minutes.