Wimbledon 2015: Serena Williams continues incredible slam record with win

Serena Williams celebrates after winning her match against Maria Sharapova at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London on Thursday.

Serena Williams feasted on familiar prey as she reached an eighth Wimbledon final with a superb 6-2 6-4 victory over Maria Sharapova on Thursday, her 17th win in a row over the Russian.

“I’m so excited”.

Heres the one element that might give Muguruza a hint of hope: In the French Opens second round past year, she stunned Williams 6-2, 6-2, the most lopsided loss in Williams 318-match Grand Slam career.

For the Spanish Garbine Muguruza however, her semi-final win against Agnieszka Radwanska was far from a cruise – if her relief and elation at the end of her match was not enough of an indicator.

Williams labelled an “eye-opening” second-round defeat to Muguruza at Roland Garros previous year as the turning point that heralded United States, Australian and French Open triumphs.

After denying any thoughts of that elusive slam all tournament Williams admitted “the obvious” most certainly fuels her desire to keep on winning. This final could easily be a rout – but Muguruza has the game to make it a match, as long as she follows these steps.

As big a deal as this win was – “a present after the hard work,” Muguruza called it – she wants the title, of course. Williams served out the match at love with the three aces and a service victor that Sharapova barely got her racket on.

Muguruza, who had never been beyond the second round at Wimbledon, said: “I heard some people saying “out, out” but I was praying the ball was on the line”.

“We were laughing, when the tournament started, because I was like, “Conchita, I’m not sure about grass””, she said. She also is bidding for the third leg of a calendar-year Grand Slam, a feat last accomplished by Steffi Graf in 1988.

“My parents, they’re going to be in Barcelona watching me on the TV. I think it’s important”.

Now examine what Cornet, who was seeded 25th and only once previously had been as far as the fourth round at a major, said afterward: “It might be a bit premature to talk about her decline, but when she plays someone who finds the right tactics, she looks a bit lost on the court”.

“But, you know, it’s what I’ve worked for”. She finished that match that took one hour and 19 minutes with 29 winners and 16 unforced errors. “No, you’re not going to see that from me”, she said as reported by The Guardian.

“She’s one of the best players in all these years so it’s obviously I think the best challenge to have”.

Recommended: Who is the best tennis player of all time? “”I know what I have to do””, she said.

Muguruza has powerful groundstrokes, which may be the reason she’s rocketed from around 100 to the top 10 (where she’s guaranteed to land on Monday) in two years.

And while she mentioned over and over again that she wasn’t superstitious, she also made clear that she didn’t want to make any drastic changes in her preparations before Saturday’s match.

“I think I could do okay on the mental side but somebody like Serena would just wipe me off the court”, Evert told USA Today.