Venus routs Konta to make 1st Wimbledon final since 2009
Venus Williams is back in the Wimbledon final.
Twenty years after her tournament debut, the five-time champ advanced to her ninth final at the All England Club - and her first since 2009 - with a dominant 6-4, 6-2 win over Britain's own Johanna Konta on Thursday.
It was Williams' 87th career match win at Wimbledon, the most for any active female player. She'll play Garbine Muguruza for the title Saturday, and at 37 years old, will have a chance to best sister Serena's record (35) as the oldest Grand Slam champion of the Open era.
It was an astonishingly clean performance from Venus, who controlled the baseline and refused to make mistakes. She was especially sharp on her serve, mixing up her pattern beautifully, keeping Konta off-balance and guessing. She lost just 13 service points all match. Her body serves were particularly effective, forcing jammed-up misses or short-ball returns or, in one instance, straight-up escape from harm's way.
Venus Williams 2nd serve (🎥Eurosport) pic.twitter.com/3jCrXauEto
— doublefault28 (@doublefault28) July 13, 2017
The only two break points Venus faced came in a huge spot, and the way she handled them completely changed the tenor of the match. Trailing 15-40 at 4-all in the first set, she set up a backhand winner with a strong first serve, then fired a monstrous second into the body that didn't come back.
She followed that up with a cracking forehand winner and another unreturned serve to hold, then broke Konta at 15 the following game to take the set, and didn't face any danger from there on out.
After going eight years without reaching a Slam final, Venus has now made two in 2017. Serena blocked her path to an eighth major title at the Australian Open in January, and is still the only player to have beaten her in a Wimbledon final.
Not having to reckon with her sister this time gives Venus a better chance, but she still feels pressure to do justice to the family name.
"Usually it's her in these finals, so I'm just trying to represent Williams as best I can," she told the BBC in her post-match interview.
"It's not a given, but I'll give it my all."