Serena Williams vs Simona Halep: Preview of the Wimbledon 2019 Ladies Singles final
Serena Williams will face off against Simona Halep in the 2019 Wimbledon final.
The American Williams is bidding to win her eighth Wimbledon title, whilst Simona Halep is making her debut appearance in a final at the All England Club. The Romanian had only made it to the semi final once before 2019, which came five years ago. The 27 year old suffered a defeat to eventual runner up Eugenie Bouchard of Canada to deny her the Wimbledon final.
Ten years senior to her 7th seeded opponent, Serena Williams is bidding to become the fourth woman to win a Grand Slam after giving birth, joining Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong and Kim Clijsters. The 37 year old gave birth to daughter Alexis in September 2017, with her last Slam title coming at the Australian Open nine months before.
Despite being ranked three places lower than Halep, at tenth in the WTA rankings Williams will go into the final as favourite. She has won 23 Grand Slams, whereas Halep has won just the one, coming at Roland Garros last year. Williams also boasts a 9-1 career lead over Halep. In their most recent meeting, and only one since William’s returned to the sport, the Michigan woman beat her opponent 6-1 4-6 6-4 in the fourth round of the Australian Open this year. The only time the woman from Constanța has beaten Williams came in 2014 at the WTA Finals, where she smashed her 6-0 6-2. Otherwise Halep has had little joy against her.
Halep has only lost one set en route to the final, beating teen sensation Coco Gauff, twice semi finalist Victoria Azarenka and Zhang Shuai along the way, as well as comfortably beating 8th seed Elina Svitolina 6-1 6-3 in the semi final. The only set the 2018 French Open champion has lost was the second set to compatriot Mihaela Buzarnescu in the second round. Williams on the other hand has lost two sets en route. She struggled against Slovenian qualifier Kaja Juvan in the second round, fighting back to win from a set down. The seven time champion also dropped the second set to her quarter final opponent Alison Riske in what proved to be a very testing contest. Her semi final saw her breeze past unseeded Czech Barbora Strycova at the expense of just three games.
The two women will battle it out on Centre Court. Williams will attempt to go sole second behind Martina Navratilova’s nine titles on the all time winners list, whilst Halep wishes to win just her second Slam title.
Serena Williams (USA)
Age: 37
WTA ranking: 10
Career Wimbledon record: 98-11
Career Grand Slam record: 343-47
2019 record: 15-3
Time spent on court so far: 8hr 13
Simona Halep (Romania)
Age: 27
WTA ranking: 7
Career Wimbledon record: 23-8
Career Grand Slam record: 86-35
2019 record: 35-10
Time spent on court: so far: 8hr 35
Williams Halep ‘Head to Head’
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