Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanksa will meet in tomorrow’s Wimbledon final in a battle of raw power against slender poise and expectation over hope.
Four-time champion Williams, the 30-year-old sixth seed, buried Victoria Azarenka under a record firestorm of 24 aces to reach her seventh Wimbledon final yesterday, winning 6-3, 7-6 (8/6).
Third seed Radwanska, seven years Williams’s junior, became the first Polish Grand Slam finalist for 73 years when she cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Angelique Kerber.
As well as a record 24 aces, beating her own best of 23 set against Zheng Jie in the third round, Williams also fired a whopping 45 winners.
She has now hit a total of 85 aces in the tournament which even puts her into second place on the men’s list where only Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber has hit more with 98.
Williams will start as the hot favourite tomorrow having beaten Radwanska in their two meetings without dropping a set, including the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2008 where the American lost just four games.
“I’ve been working so hard, I really wanted it,” said Williams, the first 30-year-old to reach the All England Club final since Steffi Graf in 1999.
“She was playing well and I got a little tight in the second set. I was looking too far in the future. I was so close, but I can’t do that. I was happy to get through that second set tie-break.”
Williams, who won the first of her four Wimbledon titles 10 years ago, insisted that the destination of the 2012 crown is far from a foregone conclusion despite her brutal power being expected to overwhelm the slender Radwanska.
“She’s doing unbelievable. She’s playing so great. Wow, she’s going to get every ball back,” said the American.
Radwanska’s first appearance in a Grand Slam final emulates the achievement of compatriot Jadwiga Jedrzejowska, who reached the pre-Open era French Championships final in 1939.
Jedrzejowska lost that French final and was also beaten in the Wimbledon and US Championships finals in 1937, so Radwanska is well aware she would write her name in tennis history as the first Polish winner of a major if she beats Williams.
“I know that she was the finalist here many years ago. I’m just very happy that I’m the second one to be in the Wimbledon final,” Radwanska said.
“I think she lost in three sets that year but now I will try to win the final.”