Reuters: Germany’s Angelique Kerber said she felt confident about facing Serena Williams in Saturday’s Wimbledon final after beating the world number one in Australia earlier this year, and warned: I’m even more dangerous on grass.

The fourth seed gatecrashed the Williams sisters’ Wimbledon party when she overpowered Venus 6-4 6-4 in the semi-finals on Thursday, setting up the clash with Serena.

She is aiming to become the first German woman since Steffi Graf 20 years ago to lift the Wimbledon singles crown, and to confound Serena’s efforts to equal Graf’s professional era record of 22 grand slam singles titles for the second time this year.

Kerber beat Serena on a hard court in the Australian Open final in January to lift her first grand slam title and said this would stand in her in good stead for Saturday’s showdown.

“I will go out there with a lot of confidence. I will go out there like in Australia, trying to show her I’m here to win the match,” said the 28-year-old, who has yet to drop a set at Wimbledon this year.

“I’m feeling good about my movement on grass courts, I can serve a little bit better. This makes me much more dangerous than on hard.”

Kerber was just eight years old when Graf lifted her seventh and last Wimbledon singles crown, and she said it would be a dream to emulate her by winning at the weekend.

“She was always an idol for me, I have watched a lot of matches, on YouTube sometimes,” she said. “I met her few times - the last time she told me, just believe in yourself.

“I will try to be the next one to win here after Steffi.”

Fearsome drives

Kerber had the upper hand in the baseline exchanges against eighth-seeded Venus throughout a topsy-turvy first set in which there were seven breaks of serve, moving her American opponent from side to side with fearsome drives off both wings.

An increasingly weary-looking Venus wilted under the pressure and made a string of errors, surrendering the set by burying a forehand into the net.

Kerber said that wearing down her 36-year-old rival was part of her strategy. “I knew that she had played long matches, in the first week especially. I was trying to moving her, that was the plan, to be the one to be aggressive,” she said.

Serena on verge of 22nd major, again, after thrashing Vesnina

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Reuters: A Champagne cork popped somewhere on Centre Court four games into Serena Williams’s Wimbledon semi-final and while it was a tad premature, her 6-2 6-0 thrashing of Elena Vesnina suggested she could be celebrating something special come Saturday.

The top-seeded American will be taking nothing for granted when she plays Angelique Kerber in the final, having seen her bid to match Steffi Graf’s modern era record of grand slam titles stuck one short on 21 for a year, but it was a menacing show of strength, albeit against an overawed opponent.

She dropped only three points on serve in an embarrassingly one-sided 48 minutes in Thursday’s first semi-final – crunching down one 123mph delivery that topped the women’s speed charts at this year’s tournament.

From the moment the 34-year-old nonchalantly broke serve in the opening game the writing was on the wall for a leaden-footed Vesnina who at least lasted three minutes longer than Dinara Safina did against Venus Williams in the previous shortest modern era women’s semi-final in 2009.

By the time the latecomers shuffled to their seats two games later, Serena was 3-0 ahead and her place in a ninth Wimbledon final, barring a tumble, was already looking a done deal. She will land a seventh Wimbledon title if she beats Germany’s fourth seed Kerber in a repeat of this year’s Australian Open final that she surprisingly lost in three sets.

If any more incentive were needed there is family honour at stake after Kerber beat older sister Venus 6-4 6-4 in the second semi-final, denying the 36-year-old a first Wimbledon final since 2009 when Serena beat her.

Serena also has the fresh pain of a French Open final defeat by Garbine Muguruza and there was a steely look in her eye when she spoke to reporters afterwards -- leaving no one in any doubt that finishing runner-up again is not an option.

“I think for anyone else in this whole planet, it would be a wonderful accomplishment (reaching three grand slam finals in a row),” she said. “For me, it’s about holding the trophy.

“For me, it’s not enough. But I think that’s what makes me different. That’s what makes me Serena.”

World number 50 Vesnina briefly held up Williams in the first set, holding serve twice, but it was futile and she managed only five points in the second as the match raced away in a blur of winners from across the net. Few of Williams’s 85 singles wins at the All England Club could have been easier.

“I felt like the score was going fast,” Vesnina, the first unseeded woman to contest a Wimbledon semi since 2011, said. “I felt like I had no chance today.”

While Vesnina, a three-times grand slam doubles champion, managed to raise a smile as she walked off, her performance clearly did not impress three-times men’s winner John McEnroe.