Wimbledon on Sling TV, Day 11
(Coverage starts at 8am ET on ESPN, all times Eastern)
Day 10 at Wimbledon saw Venus Williams’ fairy tale run come to an end, as she finally fell to Angelique Kerber 4-6 4-6. “You just step up to do the best you can. I ran up against a better player,” Williams said, with the philosiphical calm that can only come with years of experince and five Wimbledon titles. Her sister Serena, however, will continue on in her quest to tie Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam titles, after beating Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-0 in just 48 minutes, her shortest match of the tournament thus far. “I’m very happy,” Serena said. “I was really focused because we’ve had a lot of tough matches before. I knew she could really bring it to me on this surface. It’s never easy.” The day wasn’t all bad for Venus, as she and Serena did beat Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina to advance to the Ladies’ Doubles semis against Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova.
CENTRE COURT
8:00 AM
Milos Raonic (CAN) [6] vs. Roger Federer (SUI) [3] , Semifinals
Sam Querrey, ranked #41, did every other Men’s Singles player a huge favor by defeating Novak Djokovic in the 3rd Round, but his luck ran out against Milos Raonic in the quarterfinals. Raonic, ranked #7, defeated the American dragonslayer 6-4 7-5 5-7 6-4, telling the press afterward, “(It’s) the best match I played all the way through and through. Other than a span of three games, everything was quite good. I had quite a few looks. I made the most of it.”
Roger Federer has been amazing this Wimbledon, winning his first four matches in straight sets. But things got markedly more difficult against Marin Cilic, who won the first two sets, only to fall 6-7 6-4 3-6 6-7 3-6 in 3 hours and 17 minutes. “It’s great winning matches like these, coming back from two sets to love. It’s rare,” Federer said. “But I fought, I tried, I believed. At the end I got it done. So it was great on so many levels.”
Federer is 9-2 lifetime against Raonic, though he lost the last time they met, at this year’s Australian Open. Federer, however, has won both times they’ve played on grass, including at in the semis at Wimbledon in 2014.
Tomas Berdych (CZE) [10] vs. Andy Murray (GBR) [2] , Semifinals
In his 12th crack at Wimbledon, Tomas Berdych has reached the semis for the second time, after beating Lucas Pouille 7-6 6-3 6-2. Not bad for a guy who showed up without a coach. To make this upcoming match a bit more intriguing, his former coach, fellow Czech Ivan Lendl, is now Andy Murray’s coach. “I approach Ivan when he stopped with Andy the first time,” Berdych told the press. “He basically said that he doesn’t have the time and he didn’t want to be involved in tennis. Then he came back to Andy. So that’s how it is.”
Andy Murray had been having an easy go of it, as well, winning his first four matches in straight sets. But in the quarterfinals, he found himself embroiled in a four-hour epic with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, emerging victorious 7-6 6-1 3-6 4-6 6-1. “Credit to him for fighting his way back into the match because he played extremely well,” Murray said. “That first set was a tough one to lose. Obviously I ran away with the second but he fought really hard right to the end and it was a great match.”
Murray is 8-6 against Berdych, winning their last four matches in a row, though they’ve never met on grass.
NO.1 COURT
8:00 AM
Timea Babos (HUN) [5] & Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) [5]
vs.
Abigail Spears (USA) [10] & Raquel Atawo (USA) [10] , Semifinals
Serena Williams (USA) & Venus Williams (USA)
vs.
Karolina Pliskova (CZE) [8] & Julia Goerges (GER) [8] , Semifinals
Scott Lipsky (USA) & Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS)
vs.
Henri Kontinen(FIN) / & Heather Watson(GBR) , Quarterfinals
NO.3 COURT
6:30AM
Oliver Marach (AUT) & Jelena Ostapenko (LAT)
vs.
Mariana Duque-Marino (COL) & Juan-Sebastian Cabal (COL) , Quarterfinals
Aisam Qureshi (PAK) [14] & Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) [14]
vs.
Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) [15] & Robert Farah (COL) [15] , Semifinals
For the Boys’ and Girls’, Seniors, Wheelcair, and Seniors, Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Invitational schedule, go to Wimbledon.com
Watch Wimbledon on ESPN Monday at 8am by subscribing to the Best of Live TV package..
All stats courtesy of Wimbledon, ATP World Tour and ESPN