Wimbledon 2018: Serena Williams fights back against Italy's Camila Giorgi to reach semi-finals

The seven-time champion, who missed the tournament last year, was outplayed by the Italian in the first set but rallied to win 3-6 6-3 6-4 on Centre Court

Serena Williams faced her biggest challenge of the tournament so far but came through it in emphatic fashion by beating Italy’s Camila Giorgi 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 here on Tuesday to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the 11th time in her career. It was the 36-year-old American’s 19th consecutive victory on these courts following her title triumphs in 2015 and 2016.

Williams, who is now just two wins away from claiming her eighth Wimbledon title, will next take on Germany’s Julia Goerges, who beat Kiki Bertens 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Playing only her fourth tournament after taking a 14-month break to have her first child, Williams dropped her first set of the tournament and needed to produce her best serving performance so far. Giorgi, who was attempting to become the first Italian woman to reach the semi-finals, gave as good as she got for two sets, but in the decider she had no answer to Williams’ powerful serving.

Until Williams played her first-round match here last week she had barely been able to practise her serve after pulling out of the French Open last month with a pectoral muscle injury.

The former world No 1 has been gradually turning up the power through the tournament and by the end of this quarter-final she had settled into a superb serving rhythm. In her 14 service games in the match she dropped only 14 points.

No player in the tournament has won a higher percentage of first serve points (79 per cent) or hit more unreturned first serves (104 out of 206) than Williams, whose tally of 39 aces in her first five matches is bettered only by Goerges’ total of 44.

In the final set Williams raised her average serve speed by more than 5mph compared with the opening set and hit her fastest serve of the tournament so far at 122mph. “I went for it,” Williams said afterwards. “I'm like: ‘I'm going as hard as I can on this one.’ I saw it was 122. It felt good. My arm is amazing. That feels good, too.

“I knew I had to serve really well today because she was really aggressive on the returns. It felt good to get through it because it was a tough match.”

She added: “I'm not tired at all. In fact, when I was out there today, I think that was one thing that was surprising, how well I felt. Not once was I out of breath.”

Giorgi’s only break points both came in the sixth game of the first set. However, the 26-year-old Italian pushed Williams hard. Standing just 5ft 6in tall, she might seem an unlikely big hitter, but the world No 52 had been serving as fast as Williams going into the match.

Giorgi challenged through her own service but it wasn't enough to derail Williams (AFP/Getty Images)

Italy has produced a number of top female players in recent years, but Flavia Pennetta, Francesca Schiavone and Roberta Vinci all produced their best results on clay or hard courts. Giorgi is an exception in that she has consistently reserved her best Grand Slam performances for Wimbledon, although this was her first appearance in the quarter-finals.

Giorgi, who is coached by her father Sergio, was attempting to become only the second Italian of either sex to reach the last four here following Nicola Pietrangeli, who lost in five sets to Rod Laver in the 1960 semi-finals.

As the world No 181 Williams was the lowest-ranked Wimbledon quarter-finalist in the open era, but reaching the semi-finals means she is guaranteed to climb back into the top 60 next week. If she reaches the final she will be in the top 30 and if she wins the title she will break the top 20.

All three sets were decided by single breaks of serve. In the first Giorgi broke in the sixth game, Williams missing a backhand on the Italian’s second break point. At 5-3 Giorgi went to set point courtesy of a big backhand and converted it with an unreturned serve.

Williams had too much power and quality for Giorgi on the day (AFP/Getty Images)

Williams finally made her first break of serve when leading 2-1 in the second set. You might have expected a big roar of celebration when she hit a big forehand cross-court winner on break point, but she simply turned and got on with her work.

Perhaps Williams was saving her energy for when it really mattered. When she levelled the match by converting her second set point at 5-3 the American bellowed out a huge cry of “C’mon!”

At 1-1 in the third set Williams finally went ahead for the first time. Giorgi’s double fault on the first point opened the door, which Williams then kicked down with three magnificent shots. Two thumping forehands won the next two points and at 0-40 Williams produced a sensational backhand winner down the line when under attack.

The American served superbly for the rest of the match. At 5-4 she went 40-0 up with an ace and then converted her first match point by forcing Giorgi into a forehand error.

The Centre Court crowd was treated to another quarter-final spectacle (AFP/Getty Images)

Williams has won all three of her previous meetings with Goerges, the most recent of which was at last month’s French Open, where the American won their third-round encounter in straight sets.

Goerges had never previously gone beyond the third round here and has come through some tight matches in the last nine days. Bertens had won their two previous meetings, but both were on clay. The Dutchwoman, who had knocked out Venus Williams and Karolina Pliskova in earlier rounds, made the early running by winning the first set and recovered from 4-1 down in the second before Goerges took control.

Goerges became the second German to go through to the semi-finals following Angelique Kerber’s victory over Daria Kasatkina earlier in the afternoon. It will be the first time two German women have played in the last four of a Grand Slam tournament since Steffi Graf and Anke Huber made the semi-finals at Roland Garros in 1993.​