Angelique Kerber will face Serena Williams in the Wimbledon ladies’ singles final after the pair eased past their semi-final opponents.

Kerber advanced to her second Wimbledon final after a straight-sets victory over Jelena Ostapenko, who played in her first semi-final at SW19. Ostapenko started off nervously and had to save break-point in the very first game. Kerber had to fight one off herself in the sixth game as Ostapenko’s big shots started to make their mark. But after claiming that game, Kerber countered those big shots to win the next three games and claimed the first set 6-3.

Ostapenko lost her footing and never really recovered from that. Kerber broke her twice in the opening six games to take a 5-1 lead. Kerber was serving for a place in the final, but she could not convert on her match-point as Ostapenko broke back to stay alive. Kerber almost made the same mistake twice after she handed Ostapenko a second break-point, but this time she saved it and served out the match to book her spot in the final with a 6-3, 6-3 victory.

Her opponent in Saturday’s final will be Williams, who will play in her 10th final after she defeated Julia Gorges in straight sets.

Gorges, playing in her first Grand Slam semi-final, had to save a break-point in her very first game. The more the match went on, the fewer nerves were shown by the 29-year-old German. Williams was on top of her game, and pounced in the sixth to secure the first break. She held serve the next game and broke Gorges again in the eighth to secure the first set 6-2.

Williams was devastating on her own serve in the second, as she lost just five points during the whole set when she was on serve. Four of those came when Gorges broke. Williams broke her opponent twice in the second set, and that was enough to see her book a place in Saturday’s final. Quite incredible for Williams, who is playing in her fourth tour event after giving birth in September last year.

Photo: Wimbledon.com