Wimbledon 2018 LIVE: Angelique Kerber stuns Serena Williams to claim her first title at SW19 - latest reaction
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Your support makes all the difference.It’s finals weekend at Wimbledon and after an astonishing Friday, the drama is set to continue with the women’s final between Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber.
Williams is bidding to win her 24th Grand Slam, a feat that would match Margaret Court’s record, and should she do just that, it will be one of the most remarkable victories ever seen in the game given that she gave birth to her daughter just 10 months ago. But Kerber will be no pushover, with the two-time Grand Slam winner looking to get back to her best form.
Yet before that match, we had the small matter of completing Friday’s action. Kevin Anderson’s mammoth five-set victory, which finished 26-24 in the deciding set, delayed the second semi-final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, and when they resumed the match on Saturday afternoon is was Nadal who came out flying to win the fourth set and take it to a decisive fifth. However, Djokovic had enough in the tank to claim the final set 10-8 and reach his first Grand Slam final since the US Open two years ago.
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Djokovic* 6-4 3-6 7-6 (11-9) 3-6 Nadal
8-8
83 minutes and counting. These two are locked in an epic duel, wall while Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber continue to warm up on the practice courts outside.
Djokovic 6-4 3-6 7-6 (11-9) 3-6 Nadal
9-8
Djokovic wraps up a bold game dropping just one point. The end of this really is not in sight.
Djokovic 6-4 3-6 7-6 (11-9) 3-6 Nadal*
9-8
Djokovic returns Nadal's first serve down the middle of the court and into the worn patch on grass on the baseline and Nadal cannot return. A short exchange then follows which Djokovic comes out on top. Djokovic leads 0-30.
Djokovic 6-4 3-6 7-6 (11-9) 3-6 Nadal*
9-8
Three match points for Djokovic. Nadal slips as he returns a shot and it's up to Djokovic to finally finish this.
What a contest between two worthy finalists. It spanned two days, five hours and 17 minutes, but we finally have our winner.
Djokovic did not know if he would win
After his grueling five set victory against Rafael Nadal, Novack Djokovic has admitted he did not know until the final shot whether he would win.
"Its hard to pick the words I'm just going through things that flashback to last 15 months and everything I've been through tot get here to the finals and to win against the best players in the world in tone of the longest matches I've ever played.
"[It's] very special, it really could have gone either way I think. It was very clear that very few things separated things Until the last shot i didn't know if I',m going to win, I believed it but he was very close and had some chances. These are the kind of games you live for.
"When you finish at 11pm and you have to come back at 10:30 adrenaline is pretty high and its not easy to relax and calm down. It takes a little bit of time at the end of the day I'm so glad to overcome his challenge.
"Hopefully we can play, both of us! It's been a roller-coaster for him in the last couple of days, he's had a day off , I wish I could have one it means a lot."
Angelique Kerber vs Serena Williams
Time now to focus on the repeat of the 2016 Wimbledon final. Serena Williams beat Angelique Kerber 7-5 6-3 two years ago, and knows that another win will take her level with Margaret Court's 24 Grand Slam titles.
Serena Williams on her tremendous comeback
"I think mostly the hardest part was mentally letting go of a lot of ‘mummy’ things in order to fully be 100 per cent on to tennis.”
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