On a sunny day in London, the Women’s quarterfinals were featured on Tuesday at Wimbledon.

Serena Advances to Semi’s

Serena Williams took one step closer to her 22nd career major title with a 6-4, 6-4 win against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

It was a workmanlike effort by Williams who broke open the match with service breaks in the 9th game of each set. In both, she would consolidate the break to close them out. Some nerves appeared to creep into the Russian’s game late in both sets and the American would take advantage

Meanwhile, Pavlyuchenkova could find no answers to the power of Serena, particularly in her service games, as she was consistently placed on the defensive. She attempted to counter but had no break opportunities in the match and was never able to solve the physicality of the top seed’s game.

Afterward, talk quickly turned to the potential of a Williams Sister final. “It would be great,” she said. “Obviously, she's such a tough opponent. But I want her to win so bad, obviously not in the final if I'm there. But, if I'm not there, I desperately want her to win.”

Williams is looking to equal Steffi Graf in career major championships. She last won a grand slam a year ago in London.

Kerber Impressive in Victory against Halep

Two players with very similar styles played impressive tennis, but it was 4th-seeded Angelique Kerber sweeping past 5-seed Simona Halep, 7-5, 7-6.

In the first set, both players struggled to hold serve but the two aggressive baseliners exhibited their stellar court coverage and ball striking, ripping angled shots back-and-forth. Each used every shot in their arsenal to gain a slight advantage. But at 5-5, the German held serve for just the second time and immediately broke the Halep serve to take a set that featured a combined nine service breaks.

In the second set, each player somewhat improved their service games and the impressive shot-making continued. However, in the tiebreak, some untimely unforced errors crept into the Romanian’s game and Kerber sprinted out to a 5-1 advantage.  She kept the pressure on and closed out the match, advancing to the semifinals in impressive fashion.

Kerber acknowledged her service struggles after the match, “When did somebody who dropped serve six times still win a quarterfinal at Wimbledon,” she said.

The 27-year old played with the aggression that produced an Australian Open title earlier in the year. She hopes to duplicate that run this week. “I'm feeling really good. I'm playing really good tennis right now. Yeah, I think I'm playing like in Australia, like really high‑class tennis,” she said. “Also today, I mean, Simona was playing really well, as well.  She's moving so good.  I was trying to be aggressive and playing really my game, focusing just on my style of tennis.”

Venus Storms Past Shvedova

Venus Williams advanced to her first grand slam semifinal since the 2010 U. S. Open, beating Yaroslava Shvedova 7-6(5), 6-2.

After a close first set where both players slugged it out from the baseline, the power of the 36-year old opened up the close match in the second. Although Shvedova sought to gain control with her big groundstrokes, she would strike 33 unforced errors in the match.

Williams joins Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova as the only players to reach a grand slam semifinal after the age of 36. She was pleased with the state of her game afterward. “The good part is I always felt like I had the game. This is always a plus when you know you have the game. So you just have to keep working until things fall into place,” she said. “It's never a given. Everyone plays well. She could have easily won that match, as well. So just grateful.”

The win sets up a semifinal encounter with Kerber. The German holds a 3-2 career head-to-head advantage.

Vesnina Upsets Cibulkova, Earns Semifinal Birth

It was unseeded Elena Vesnina upsetting Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-2, to advance to the semifinals on Tuesday.

The Russian struck the ball confidently and with power throughout the match and may have benefitted from the effects of the Slovak’s slugfest against Agnieszka Radwanska just a day earlier. Cibulkova admitted that she could barely move late in that match.

Vesnina served efficiently and did not allow a break opportunity from her opponent. Meanwhile, she attacked the second serve of Cibulkova and earned 13 break chances in the match. She would capitalize on 4 of those opportunities.

With the victory, the world no. 50 will have a date with world no. 1 Serena in the semifinals.

Elsewhere

One Men’s match that was not concluded on Monday, finished with Tomas Berdych defeating Jiri Vesely 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3. Berdych moves into the quarterfinals with the victory.