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WIMBLEDON, England – Serena Williams will face Simona Halep for the women's title and enter her third final with a chance to win a 24th Grand Slam singles title, equaling Margaret Court's record.
It's been two and a half years since Williams won the 23rd place at the 2017 Australian Open. At the time, she was pregnant with her daughter, Olympia Ohanian, and she did not go to school. did not play any other tournament until March 2018.
Williams lost the Wimbledon final last year against Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-3 and last year's US Open final against Naomi Osaka 6-2, 6-4.
This year, 37-year-old Williams played a limited schedule due to a persistent knee injury, but he looked harsher every lap at Wimbledon.
Halep, a 27-year-old Romanian, seeded number 7 at Wimbledon, won her first Grand Slam title at the French Open last year. She plays her first final at Wimbledon. Williams, the 11th seed, is in his 11th singles final for Wimbledon and looking for his eighth championship.
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Williams learned of a defeat against Halep.
Williams lost only once in his 10 games against Halep, but that was a loss: 6-2, 6-0 at the championship round robin stage end of year 2014 in Singapore.
Williams avenged the defeat in the final of this tournament, 6-3, 6-0, but said that the memory remains fresh and motivating.
"I think the biggest key to our matches is the defeat I've had," Williams said Thursday. "I never forgot it. She played incredible. It tells me what level she played, she can do it again. So I must be better than that.
It's their first encounter in the Grand Slam final.
Halep and Williams are the two best players in Grand Slam tournaments since 2014, with Halep reaching five finals and Williams 11. But they meet for the first time in a Grand Slam final.
Their last two games were at the majors: in the fourth round of the Australian Open this year and the quarterfinals of the US Open 2016.
Interestingly, Williams Never played Jennifer Capriati or Kim Clijsters, two longtime rivals, in a Grand Slam final. She has not faced Justine Henin, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, in a major final until 2010, after each has reached this stage more than 10 times.
You can throw the rank.
Although Halep, 7th in the world, is third in front of Williams, it will not matter much to one or the other.
Halep is listed at the Australian Open in January as a seed, after being ranked first for the second year in a row. But before his fourth-round match against 16th-seeded Williams, Halep sent a deferential note recognizing everything his opponent had accomplished.
"In my opinion, being world No. 1 and being the best player in the world, it's a little different," Halep said.
After Halep lost the match, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, a reporter told her, "You're ranked # 1 and she's Serena Williams."
"Exactly," Halep replied.
Williams has not been tested by the top 10 opponents.
Williams has beaten just about everyone on his way to 23 Grand Slam titles, but her road to the final at Wimbledon each of the past two years has been particularly easy. Each time, she had to face only one of the top 30 players. both times this player was Julia Görges. Williams has not played in the top 10 since the Open of Australia, when she beat Halep and then lost at number 7 Karolina Pliskova.
When the draw was held at Wimbledon, matches against fifth, Kerber, and No. 1, Ashleigh Barty, were possible, but Williams did not face either.
Halep only met one of the top 10 players to reach the final, the 8th Elina Svitolina, in the semifinals. But she eliminated Victoria Azarenka, a former Grand Slam champion and number 1 in the third round, and then Coco Gauff, the star of the tournament, in the fourth.
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