QUEEN Victoria or just another pretender to the throne?
Everything is up for grabs for Victoria Azarenka of Belarus on Centre Court today. The 22-year-old from Minsk, the winner of her first Grand Slam in Australia earlier this year, has arrived in the last four at SW19 for the second successive year, the only player to do so without dropping a single set. Win and she will automatically become favourite to claim her first Wimbledon title and reclaim the World No. 1 position she relinquished to Maria Sharapova in Roland Garros last month.
There is just one problem with all this: standing on the other side of the net will be Serena Williams, who has not only sent down an awesome 61 aces already during this tournament, but has been victorious on seven of the eight occasions on which the players have previously met. That lone victory, which came in Miami in 2009, feels rather lonely surrounded by all those defeats, no fewer than five of which have come in the slams.
Even when Azarenka was rated the world's best player at the time of their last meeting, in the final at Madrid earlier in the year, Williams still managed to compile a 6-1, 6-3 victory. If it was a case of hope over experience as the Belarusian looked forward to the tie yesterday, how exactly does she plan to turn things around in her favour?
"I don't really like to look back in history because every time you step on the court it's a new story," Azarenka said. "You kind of write your own history every time. Every time she plays against me she plays really well no matter where it is. I lost to her most of the times. But I think we've played once here only.
"She's a great fighter," the Belarusian added. "She never gives up. You always see that, no matter what the score is, she will go for her shots. She has a huge serve, which we all know. Every player that played against her has felt that. It's definitely an asset.
"She's a great champion and it is going to be a tough match no matter what. But, you know, that's what you kind of expect to have in the semi-finals. We have had good matches. We have had bad matches. So we'll see. I expect to do the best job I can. That's the most I can ask myself for, to make sure when I leave the court I did everything I can."
Aside from two flaky moments as she served for the match against Tamira Paszek on Tuesday night, Azarenka appears to be approaching the form which enabled her to compile a 26-match early-season winning run, the best on the tour since Martina Hingis in 1997. "I don't think about that because if you try to look for that feeling you had before, you're not going to find it," she said. "There were days I didn't feel great in the beginning of the year as well but I managed to pull through."
Whoever comes through that match on Centre Court will contest the Rosewater Vase against a first time Grand Slam finalist. Agnieszka Radwanska, the World No. 3 and former Wimbledon girls champion – who could also claim World No. 1 spot if she beats Williams in the final – faces Angelique Kerber of Germany, the 22-year-old from Kiel who has won more matches on the tour this year than any other player.
The head-to-head between the two players stands at two wins apiece. But with all apologies to Ms Azarenka, whose boyfriend is Sergei Bubka jnr, the tennis-playing son of the former pole vault legend, she must raise the bar against Williams if she is to avoid a crash landing.
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