Wimbledon 2015: Serena Williams dominates Maria Sharapova to reach finals

WTA no.1., Serena Williams continued her dominance of Maria Sharapova with a 6-2, 6-4 win in the Wimbledon semifinals Thursday.

Williams now has 17 consecutive wins over Sharapova and 27 straight victories in Grand Slam matches, her last loss coming in Wimbledon’s third round last year. She’s also 38-1 this year.

Williams’pursuit of her second “Serena Slam” – titles in four straight Grand Slam events – and her first calendar Grand Slam also remained intact.

Williams will play 20th-seeded Garbine Muguruza, a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 winner over Agnieszka Radwanska, in Saturday’s final. Muguruza, a 21-year-old Spaniard who defeated Williams but lost to Sharapova at the 2014 French Open, will be playing in her first Grand Slam final.

Williams barely needed to touch the ball as she broke a shaky Sharapova in the match’s first game. Sharapova, whose service toss was an issue throughout the match, hit only 2 of 8 first serves and double-faulted 3 times. Williams, meanwhile, had two aces in her first service game and then broke Sharapova again in the match’s fifth game on her way to a quick first-set victory.

Sharapova looked more composed in the second set until the fifth game, when Williams used a couple of overpowering returns and another double fault by Sharapova to break. Five games later, she was on to her 25th Grand Slam final.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press