Wimbledon women’s semifinals preview and picks: Can Serena Williams keep it up?

Four women remain in the bid for the 2018 Wimbledon singles title: Serena Williams, Angelique Kerber, Julia Goerges, and Jelena Ostapenko. The semifinals are set for Thursday, beginning at 8 a.m. ET.

Williams, the 25th seed, is obviously the biggest name remaining as she has seven Wimbledon titles to her name and 23 Grand Slam titles in total, the most of anybody in the Open Era. She’s hoping to reach 24, which would tie her with Margaret Court on the all-time list.

She’ll be facing Julia Goerges, the 13th seed, in the second match on Centre Court on Thursday. This is Williams’ first Wimbledon since she won it in 2016, as she had to skip the 2017 tournament due to her pregnancy. She returned to competitive play just before the French Open this year, and made it to the Round of 16 before she had to pull out with an injury.

Then there’s the other matchup, which will take place first on the court, between the 11th-seeded Kerber and 12th-seeded Ostapenko. These two have never played each other before, though Kerber has made it to the Wimbledon finals before — in 2016, where she lost to Williams — and has won both the Australian Open and US Open.

Ostapenko is appearing in her first Wimbledon semifinal, but also has a Grand Slam victory at the 2017 French Open, so she’s no stranger to the big stage.

Williams and Goerges have faced each other three times before, but two of those matches were in 2010 and 2011 — both wins for the former. Williams bested her in straight sets on both occasions, but it’s the most recent one that stands out: Williams’ win over Goerges in straight sets in the third round of the French Open, 6-3, 6-4.

Williams was pushed in her last match, dropping the first set against Camila Giorgi, but she roared back as only she does, and took the rest of the match. It’s hard to imagine Goerges, as good as she’s played, keeping up with the pace that Giorgi was able to sustain. The big question, for Williams, is whether or not her conditioning is up to snuff. If it is, she’s probably winning the title. If she’s reaching her limit, there could be trouble.

But she also served up seven aces and had a first-serve percentage of 71 percent against Giorgi, and Goerges simply can’t keep up with something like that.

Williams’ Wimbledon thus far: def. Arantxa Rus (7-5, 6-3), def. Viktoriya Tomova (6-1, 6-4), def. Kristina Mladenovic (7-5, 7-6(2)), def. Evgeniya Rodina (6-2, 6-2), def. Camila Giorgi (3-6, 6-3, 6-4)

Goerges’ Wimbledon thus far: def. Monica Puig (6-4, 7-6(7)), def. Vera Lapko (6-2, 3-6, 6-2), def. Barbora Strycova (7-6(3), 3-6, 10-8), def. Donna Vekic (6-3, 6-2), def. Kiki Bertens (3-6, 7-5, 6-1)

Pick: Williams

Ostapenko stopped the red-hot Dominika Cibulkova in her quarterfinal matchup, and hasn’t been pushed to three sets at all in this year’s tournament. Kerber has looked very good as well, dispatching Daria Kasatkina in her quarterfinals matchup in straight sets. Kerber, though, has dropped a set, losing the opening frame against Claire Liu in the second round.

Not that such a stat is hugely important to Thursday’s action, but time spent on the court is always a concern when it gets into the penultimate and final round of the tournament.

Ostapenko’s run has been brilliant, and as noted, it’s been capped off (thus far) by the recent quarterfinal victory over Cibulkova, who herself was on a hugely impressive run and looked unstoppable before Ostapenko bested her.

Kerber and Ostapenko have never faced each other before, so there’s nothing to go on as far as past results are concerned.

Ostapenko’s biggest issue in her quarterfinal matchup were the 28 unforced errors against her 33 winners, while Kerber has been playing with fewer errors. This could come down to that, with the added bonus for Kerber being she has been serving very, very hard on these grass courts, and that would naturally lead to more errors for Ostapenko.

Kerber’s Wimbledon thus far: def. Vera Zvonareva (7-5, 6-3), def. Claire Liu (3-6, 6-2, 6-4), def. Naomi Osaka (6-2, 6-4), def. Belinda Bencic (6-3, 7-6(5)), def. Daria Kasatkina (6-3, 7-5)

Ostapenko’s Wimbledon thus far: def. Katy Dunne (6-3, 7-6(5)), def. Kirsten Flipkens (6-1, 6-3), def. Vitalia Diatchenko (6-0, 6-4), def. Aliaksandra Sasnovich (7-6(4), 6-0), def. Dominika Cibulkova (7-5, 6-4)

Pick: Ostapenko, by a hair