The Wimbledon ladies’ final is set for Saturday at the All England Club, and it’s a pretty unexpected matchup. World No. 1 Serena Williams was definitely predicted to be there, but not No. 20 GarbineMuguruza, who is in her first Grand Slam final. Serena is a 1.15 favorite on tennis odds with Muguruza at 5.75 and the over/undersets listed at 2.5. The under is a1.28 favorite.
Serena Slam On Horizon
The American Williams, 33, continued her unbelievable career dominance of Russia’s Maria Sharapova with a pretty easy 6-2, 6-4 victory in the semifinals. Williams finished the match with almost twice as many winners to unforced errors, 29 to 15. It was her 17th straight win over Sharapova, which is astounding because of how good Sharapova is against everyone else. Serena has now won 26 straight Grand Slam matches overall and is going for a Serena Slam — four straight major titles as she’s the reigning champion of the 2014 U.S. Open, as well as this year’s Australian and French Opens.
Serena is in the 25th Grand Slam final of her career and is 20-4 in those finals, winning six Australian Opens, three French Opens, five Wimbledons and six U.S. Opens. The losses were to sister Venus twice (U.S. Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2008), Sharapova (Wimbledon in 2004) and Sam Stosur (U.S. Open in 2011). Serena has won seven straight major finals and has just one loss overall in 2015.
Muguruza: A Rising Star
Muguruza, a 21-year-old from Spain, beat favored Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the other semifinal. Muguruza led by a set and 3-1 before Radwanskawon five straight games. After trading early breaks in the third set, Muguruza, whose best surface is clay, won a decisive sixth game to go up 4-2 and would eventually serve out the match. Radwanska, the No. 13 player in the world, was the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2012. Muguruza is the first Spanish player to appear in the ladies’ final at Wimbledon since Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in 1996. The last Spanish woman to win Wimbledon was Conchita Martinez in 1994. Muguruza has just one career WTA Tour title — and a 27-12 record this year — compared to 67 titles for Williams. Prior to this tournament, the furthest Muguruzahad advanced at a major tournament was the quarterfinals (at French Open both in 2014 and this year).
Serena is 2-1 against Muguruza all time. That one win by Muguruza was in the second round of the 2014 French Open, 6-2, 6-2 in just 64 minutes, the worst Grand Slam loss of Williams’ career. They last met at this year’s Australian Open, a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 Serena win. Their other meeting was in the second round of the 2013 Australian Open, a 6-2, 6-0 win for Williams.
On the match props, a Williams straight-sets win is the 1.44 favorite. The longest shot is Muguruza in three sets at 11.0. Williams is -5 on the game spread and the total games played number is 20. That there will be a tiebreaker played in the match is 4.00, and not at 1.22.]]>
