With the 2015 Wimbledon tournament well underway and the WTA brings us the semifinal match between Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams on Thursday the 9th of July 2015 at 4 AM ET with the match played at the All England Tennis Club at Wimbledon.
For those that Bet on Tennis, the present opening odds are favoring in this semifinal match Serena Williams at -500 on the Money Line while Maria Sharapova is at +350 on the Money Line.
On Tuesday Williams had a scare as she barely edged past V. Azarenka in 3 difficult sets that allowed her to move on to her 2nd straight semifinal at Wimbledon. Now she comes up against her arch rival M. Sharapova who had an exciting victory over C. Vandeweghe to make it to the final four stage of this tournament.
For the fans of Serena Williams you know she came into the tournament as the top seed, and managed to keep her desire to complete a calendar Grand Slam as she beat in 3 sets V. Azarenka. She is a 5 times champion who won the quarterfinal match at 3-6, then took control with a 6-2 and 6-3, 2nd and 3rd set that had a duration of 2 hours and 4 minutes to completion.
Williams has been a Grand Slam Champions some 20 times, and now has won 26 straight matches in the majors, and that dates back to the 2014 Wimbledon Championship. She seeks to continue the winning streak in this match with Sharapova on Thursday the 9th of July 2015. These 2 arch rivals have met some 20 times with Williams winning the last 16 of those 20 matches.
The last time these two faced each other was at the Australian Open and the beginning of the season and Williams beat Sharapova 6-3 and 7-6(5). Now if Williams cares to continue her dominance with Sharapova she will need to bring back her excellent service procedures. In her match on Tuesday with Azarenka she managed a 65% completion rate on 1st serves and won 39 of 49 or 80% of 1st serves. In her last 10 tennis matches Serena is 10-0.
If you’re a Sharapova fan then you know she roared into this semifinal as she had a victory that was hear stopping with 6-3, 6-7(3) and 6-2 over C. Vandeweghe this past Tuesday in a match that Sharapova needed some 2 hours and 45 minutes to win the marathon match.
Sharapova success in that match came from her great returns as the 5 time Grand Slam Champ made 48% of the receiving points which meat she made 50 of 105, and the was able to convert her break point chances in 6 of 11 times.
Now the Russian Sharapova has the big match with the really hot Serena Williams of the United States. Sharapova in the past has struggled against Williams in her career as her record against the No. 1 Williams is a mere 2 wins and 17 losses and it’s been some 11 years since she has had a win over Sharapova.
Yes it appears the odds are against Sharapova in this semifinal match, but she can remember that at the Australian Open when she played Williams to the brink, and then lost in consecutive sets back in January. If Sharapova is to upset Williams she must improve in her service game as in the match with Vandeweghe she only made 60% of her 1st serves in that match on Tuesday. On top of that she had an incredible 10 double faults and still managed to win in the quarter final match. That type of performance will not keep her in the game with Williams. In the last 10 matches Sharapova has managed 9 wins and 1 loss. Regardless the media experts predict Williams will win in 3 exciting sets.