Vinci also did a very good job of returning Williams' powerful serves and thus keeping points alive where her better ball-striking skills ended with her winning many points and breaking Williams several times.
Vinci's a very accomplished doubles player, much like the skanky looking American (can't think of her name at the moment) who stretched Serena to three sets a couple of rounds ago. That's the formula to beat the Linebacker -- keep her serve in play as much as possible and then run her around with spin and finesse, knowing she'll often eventually hit the ball out or into the net.
Yes, Bethanie Mattek-Sands. She's currently playing mixed doubles with Sam Querrey against Hingis and Paes (who is one of the few coloured tennis players with an enjoyable game; he has great touch at the net). She just got broken to love in her first service game, largely thanks to Hingis' far superior return of serve.
I stopped watching Mattek-Sands' match against Hulk after the second set because it was obvious how it was going to end. That has been a standard pattern for Williams this year: get outplayed for a set and a half, then watch her opponent lose her mind when she realises that she actually has a chance to win. The mentality of some of these players is disgraceful - the worst example being Heather Watson (a mischling) at Wimbledon, who was up 3-0 with break points in the third set. Even with the British SJW crowd rooting for her, she still collapsed.
This is a really great moment. I'm still delighted with this outcome, because I was certain Vinci would find a way to choke herself to a 5-7 defeat when serving for the match. Her service game after 4-3 was so shaky. I should've had more faith when she saved both break points despite relying on her weak second serve, but we've seen Gorilliams' opponents throwing away the match from winning positions so often that it's now something to be expected.
If you look at the Wikipedia page for the women's singles, there is a list of all the seeds, with their losing rounds listed in brackets. To get an idea of how rotten this draw was, and how heavily it favoured Serena Williams, just look at the calibre of her opponents. Her only top 20 opponent was Madison Keys (the #19 seed). Everyone else she faced was unseeded or related (Venus). That has been typical of her run at the slams in 2015. Out of 27 matches, only three of them were against top 10 players! Two of those were against Sharapova, whose mental block in this matchup is notorious. It's absurd. When Steffi Graf won the Golden Slam in 1988, I think she faced seven players from the top 10, including Navratilova (at Wimbledon, where the Czech is quite clearly the WTA GOAT), Sabatini and Evert. I'm sure Serena fans would have gloated before this result that Graft was facing a washed-up Navratilova at Wimbledon that year, but lulz at that. Navratilova also reached the Wimbledon final in 1989, and won it in 1990. Both of her finals against Graf went to three sets. It's definitely true that Navratilova was past her peak, but she was still a great player. Not even remotely comparable to facing a below-par Muguruza in the final.
Anyway, bring on the mens' semi-finals! I hope Federer or Wawrinka can take the title, but I think all four of these semi-finalists are great to watch when they are playing well. It's a win-win outcome whatever happens.
