Sports

Venus pep talk helps Serena reach Wimbledon semis

SEMI-TOUGH: Serena Williams celebrates following her 6-3, 7-5 triumph over defending Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova at center court yesterday. Williams faces Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals tomorrow. (
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WIMBLEDON, England — After a bit of advice from her big sister and a bunch of aces from her big serve, Serena Williams is back in the Wimbledon semifinals.

With two more victories, Williams will be holding a Grand Slam trophy for the first time in two years.

With the thud of racket-against-ball reverberating under the closed Centre Court roof, Williams smacked 13 aces at up to 120 mph and overpowered defending champion Petra Kvitova 6-3, 7-5 in the quarterfinals yesterday at the All England Club.

Beforehand, Williams’ father and coach, Richard, asked his other title-winning daughter to relay some suggestions.

“I went and had Venus talk to her, because Venus can get [through] to Serena better than anyone in the world,” the elder Williams said. “So I told Venus, ‘I’m not going to talk to her. You talk to her.’ ”

The 30-year-old Williams, bidding to become the first woman at least that age to win a major title since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 1990, turned in her best performance of the tournament against her most difficult opponent.

“You can’t play a defending Wimbledon champion or Grand Slam champion and not elevate your game,” said Williams, who produced 27 winners and only 10 unforced errors.

Tomorrow, Williams will play No. 2 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, the reigning Australian Open champion, who defeated unseeded Tamira Paszek 6-3, 7-6 (4) under the roof at night to reach the Wimbledon semifinals for the second straight year. The other semifinal will be No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland against No. 8 Angelique Kerber of Germany.

Williams owns, by far, the best resume of any woman in action Tuesday. She was participating in her 33rd major quarterfinal; the other seven players have been in a total of 29.

Not surprisingly, Kvitova expects Williams to win the title.

Asked how difficult it is for anyone to beat Williams when she plays the way she did Saturday, the Czech replied: “It is big difficult.”

Impossible?

“I can’t say ‘impossible.’ She’s human,” Kvitova said.

* The lofty expectations the British place on Andy Murray every year at Wimbledon ramped up several notches following Rafael Nadal’s surprising exit.

So far, Murray is coping pretty well.

The fourth-seeded Murray easily dispatched Marin Cilic between rain showers in the round of 16 yesterday. He showed no signs of the increased pressure he has been under since Nadal exited in the second round.

Murray was given a standing ovation by a jubilant Court One crowd after his 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Cilic, who won the grass-court Queen’s Club title in the run-up to Wimbledon.

Murray is just two wins away from becoming the first British man to reach the final at the All England Club since Bunny Austin in 1938. Next up is a quarterfinal match against seventh-seeded David Ferrer, who has reached Wimbledon’s last eight for the first time.

Florian Mayer of Germany beat Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 to set up a match against top-seeded Novak Djokovic.

And fifth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France,defeated American Mardy Fish 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-4.