Having been a rain-ridden for most of the opening week, the Wimbledon Championships, in the end, boasted a star-studded championship round match-up between world number one and defending champion Serena Williams against world number four and first-time Wimbledon finalist Angelique Kerber. Williams took home the Venus Rosewater Dish for the seventh time after beating her opponent in straight sets. Thus, the American cements her place at the top of the rankings whilst Kerber will return to her career-high ranking of world number two.
Last week’s titlist
World number one Serena Williams’ last Grand Slam title came at this very tournament one year ago where she beat Garbiñe Muguruza for her 21st trophy. She then found herself one shy of Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam titles. Moreover, having won the Australian Open and French Open earlier, the American was just one Grand Slam away from completing the ‘Calendar Slam’.
The American entered the US Open with a huge weight of expectations on her shoulders. There, she made it all the way to the semifinals only to fall short to an inspired Roberta Vinci. The American admitted it was a disappointing loss and will take time for the scars to heal. When she made the decision to sit out the remainder of the season after that loss, she revealed that she has been carrying injuries for most of 2015 and hence the enterprising decision to recuperate and fully recover before returning to competition once again, injury free.
Returning to competition this year, the American was elected to represent the United States at the Hopman Cup but she withdrew midway through her first match with a knee inflammation. She cast those injury bouts away by making it to the final of the Australian Open where she was the defending champion but finished second best to a motivated Angelique Kerber. This was then followed by another runner-up finish at the BNP Paribas Open to Victoria Azarenka, it marked the first time since 2004 where Williams lost two consecutive finals.
After falling to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the round of 16 at the Miami Open where she was the three-time defending champion, the American withdrew from her projected first clay court tournament of the year in Madrid due to the flu. Her debut on the dirt took place the following week in Rome and it was a sweet one as she beat compatriot Madison Keys in the final to take home the title and end a nine-month title drought. At the French Open last month, defending champion Williams sailed to the final but was beaten in straight sets by Muguruza, it was the first time in the American’s career where she had lost back-to-back Grand Slam finals.
With the first two of her three Grand Slam title defences gone to dust, the Amercian turned her focus to Wimbledon with her eyes on the elusive 22nd Grand Slam title. Her path to the final began with a routine win over Swiss qualifier Amra Sadikovic. She then faced her sternest test of the tournament against fellow American Christina McHale in the following round. In that match, Williams dropped her only set of the tournament. After scoring a bagel in each of her straight-set wins over Annika Beck and 13th-seeded Kuznetsova, she overcame a pair Russians in 21st seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina, the surprise package of this year’s tournament to book her place in her ninth Wimbledon final.
Facing Kerber once again, it was a rematch of the Australian Open final January this year which Kerber won in an epic three-setter. This time around, the tenacious quality of the match was no different than Australia but it was Williams who completed her sweet revenge over the German, weathering through the German’s tough resistance to prevail 7-5, 6-3 in an hour and 21 minutes. Other than tying Graf for most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era, Williams is now just two trophies away from equalling Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 titles.
The opening round stage this year featured just two seeded casualties, namely 23rd seed Ana Ivanovic and 25th seed Irina-Camelia Begu. 2007 semifinalist Ivanovic lost to Russian qualifier Ekaterina Alexandrova whilst Begu fell to Germany’s Carina Witthoeft. The second round however, saw the demise of eleven seeds. The notable ones were newly-minted French Open champion and second seed Muguruza, seventh-seeded Belinda Bencic who retired with a wrist injury and two-time winner and 10th seed Petra Kvitova, whose 2016 slump continues.
Dominika Cibulkova, the 19th seed came out on top over third seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the round of 16 with a scoreline of 6-3, 5-7, 9-7 in what was a gruelling but epic match, arguably one of the best matches of the entire tournament. She however, ran out of steam against eventual semifinalist Vesnina in the last eight.
Prior to Wimbledon this year, 29-year-old Vesnina’s best result at the Grand Slams came at the 2006 and 2013 Australian Open and at Wimbledon in 2009 where she made the round of 16. This time, the Russian took advantage of a wide open section of the draw which saw the demise of Bencic and Kvitova to get past the round of 16 and eventually make her first Grand Slam semifinal.
Serena’s sister Venus also logged in a semifinal appearance at this year’s tournament. This marks the first time since the 2010 US Open where she has made a Grand Slam semifinal. Her prior best results since then were quarterfinal showings at the Australian Open and US Open last year.
Vesnina’s compatriot Pavlyuchenkova cited that grass was never to her liking but turned things around to make her first Wimbledon quarterfinal. It was also Pavlyuchenkova’s third Grand Slam quarterfinal overall and her first since 2011 where she made the last eight of both the French Open and the US Open that same year. Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova returned to a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the first time since the 2012 French Open, her third overall.
Speaking of the Williams sisters, the pair were impressive in doubles, taking home the title by defeating the Hungarian-Kazakh pairing of Timea Babos and Shvedova in straight sets. With the win, they celebrate their 14th Grand Slam doubles title together, their first since winning here in 2012. They also maintain a flawless 14-0 record in Grand Slam finals.
Rankings
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Serena Williams strengthens her position at the top of the rankings, an 1800-point gap separates her from world number two Kerber. Venus Williams solidifies her place in the top 10, going up one spot to seventh. Meanwhile, Kuznetsova who made the round of 16 returns to the top 10 for the first time since May 2010 at number 10. Cibulkova is also inching closer to a top 10 return, rising from 18th to 12th whereas Pavlyuchenkova returns to the top 20 for the first time May 2013 at number 19, an improvement of four spots.
Vesnina’s saw her ranking cut into half, vaulting 26 spots from 50th to 24th. The Russian is now three spots away from her career-high of number 21. Misaki Doi of Japan who logged in her first round of 16 appearance at a Grand Slam at Wimbledon sets a new career-high ranking of number 36, going up from 49th. Shvedova also cut her ranking by half, making a 47-spot leap from 96th into the top 50 at 49th.
2015 quarterfinalist Keys dropped out of the top 10 after failing to match her result from last year when she lost to fifth seed Simona Halep in the round of 16. Timea Bacsinszky, another quarterfinalist from last year dipped seven places to 18th after falling out in the third round. Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki is also out of the top 50, for the first time since January 2008 when she succumbed to Kuznetsova in the first round, having reached the round of 16 last year.
Road to Singapore
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The Wimbledon title takes Serena Williams past the 6000-point mark in the race to the WTA Finals as she edges to closer to becoming the first player to qualify for the year-end championships. Halep overtakes Keys for the eighth spot by virtue of her quarterfinal showing. Vesnina rises from 23rd to 12th whereas fellow semifinalist Venus Williams vaults 39 places from 57th into the top 20 standings at 18th.
Ekaterina Makarova's round of 16 result sees the Russian improve from 28th to 23rd. Pavlyuchenkova takes a 32-spot leap from 66th into the top 40 at 34th. America’s CoCo Vandeweghe who reached the round of 16 moves into the top 30 standings, from 36th to 27th. Shvedova enters the top 40 standings at number 38, going up 40 places from 78th.
Lucie Safarova, who recorded a round of 16 appearance at Wimbledon for the second year in a row improves from 68th to 47th. Slovak Jana Cepelova who most notably upset Muguruza in the second round, rises from 118th into the top 100 standings at 91st.
This week’s action
A pair of International-level clay courts tournaments, namely the BRD Bucharest Open and the inaugural Ladies Championship Gstaad will take place this week in the Romanian capital, Bucharest and Swiss city, Gstaad respectively. Romania’s number one Halep and Swiss number two Bacsinszky lead the field of their respective home tournaments.