On a beautiful day in London, two past Wimbledon champions and two women searching for their first major title sought to play in Saturday’s final.

Serena overwhelms Sharapova

Two champions squared off on Centre Court as Maria Sharapova looked to finally end her losing streak to Serena Williams. But a highly anticipated match turned out to be more of the same as the world No. 1 cruised in a 6-2 6-4 win, her 17th consecutive against the Russian.

Sharapova began the first set struggling with her serve and promptly gave Williams an early break on the heels of three double faults. Not openly showing emotion early, a quiet and confident Williams was all business at the outset. As the set progressed, a theme emerged as Sharapova was forced to work to hold her serve while Williams breezed during her service games. And, after a second break of service, the American closed out a comfortable set at 6-2 in just 33 minutes.

There was more of the same in the second set as Williams dictated the points and continued to feast off of the subpar Sharapova serve. With a break in hand, Serena maintained her business-as-usual approach and stayed focused on the goal. Sharapova exhibited some fight despite the bleak outlook late in the set. However, she could not make inroads into Williams’ serve, which fired 13 aces in the match. The American would never face a break point on the day. Meanwhile, the aggressive Sharapova only struck nine winners in the match as she was never consistently able to control play.

Williams continued her domination of Sharapova and advances to the final on Saturday. She was elated to return to the final. “I'm so excited. I got a bit nervous because it was a semifinal and it's a long time since I've been this far,” she said. “I'm excited to get through it. Maria played well and when she stepped up, I managed to step up. It wasn't easy, it was interesting.”

With a win on Saturday, Williams would complete her second “Serena Slam” and earn her 21st major title.

Muguruza powers past Radwanska

It was the powerful Garbine Muguruza facing the crafty Agnieszka Radwanska in a semifinal match that saw the young Spaniard advance to her first Grand Slam final, 6-2 3-6 6-3.

In the first set, the contrast of styles was noticeable as Muguruza attacked the Pole with big, deep groundstrokes, forcing Radwanska into a defensive mode. As the Spaniard struck winners from all angles of the court, the 13th seed found difficulty handling the pace. With Radwanska’s second serve sitting in her strike zone, Muguruza engaged with force and gained control of her opponent’s service games. Blending timely volleys with a strong backhand from the baseline, Muguruza rolled in the first set.

Picking up where she left off, the 21-year-old quickly earned a break in the second set and placed the veteran on the brink of a deficit likely too large to overcome. However, down 1-3 with the Spaniard serving, Radwanska appeared to change strategies. Targeting the forehand of the powerful youngster, she would force Muguruza into some errors while she finally seemed to adjust to the pace and control the points. Perhaps with the realization of a potential final weighing on her nerves, Muguruza would lose momentum and failed to win another game in the set.

However, in the third set, Muguruza finally stopped the bleeding, and both players held serve early. The Spaniard composed herself and in a key game would easily break to gain a 4-2 edge in the set. The pair engaged in a number of entertaining points with both exhibiting their strengths as the set moved forward. But, serving at 5-3, Muguruza fired powerful shots particularly from her backhand side, to set up match point. Grasping a weapon that has been a strength, she would fire a big serve that pulled Radwanska off balance and would close out the match.

Muguruza was speechless afterwards. “I don’t have words to explain it,” she said. “Just happy. I worked all my life to achieve this moment, so no words.”

For the first time since 1996, a Spaniard will advance to the women’s final. Arantxa Sánchez Vicario was the last to reach the Wimbledon final from the country.