2015 Wimbledon Women’s Final Open Thread: Serena Williams v Garbine Muguruza

Serena Williams takes the court seeking history Saturday in the Wimbledon’s women’s final. Not only is the 33-year-old trying to win a 6th Wimbledon, but also a second “Serena Slam” and a 21st overall Grand Slam major.

Serena has won 27 straight matches in Grand Slam play, all since exiting the 2014 Wimbledon Champion in a cloud of uncertainty.

Muguruza arrives in the Wimbledon as a Cinderella, upsetting four straight Top 15 players en route to her first career Grand Slam final.

[1] SERENA WILLIAMS (USA #1) vs. [20] GARBIÑE MUGURUZA (ESP #20)
Head to Head: SERENA WILLIAMS leads 2-1
S.Williams:
• Contesting eighth final at The Championships and first since 2012; owns a 5-2 record in Wimbledon singles finals, capturing the title in 2002 (d. V.Williams in F), 2003 (d. V.Williams in F), 2009 (d. V.Williams in F), 2010 (d. Zvonareva in F) and 2012 (d. A.Radwanska in F)

• Runner-Up finishes came in 2004 (l. Sharapova, who was ranked No.15 at the time) and 2008 (l. V.Williams,
ranked No.7)

• 2015 Wimbledon represents her 60th Grand Slam main draw appearance; including SF win over Sharapova,
owns 86-12 record on grass • Making her 16th main draw appearance at Wimbledon. With her SF defeat of Sharapova, added to her lead as the active player with most main draw Wimbledon wins – 78-13, ahead of V.Williams at 76-13

• Serena is playing the 25th Grand Slam final of her career (20-4 record across all Slams) and 85th tour level final overall (66-17 match record, one title being a walkover); looking for seventh title on grass

• Winning her sixth Wimbledon singles title today would see Serena draw level with Billie Jean King on the all-time list – King won her sixth and final singles title 40 years ago, in 1975.

Muguruza:
• Contesting her first Grand Slam final; previous best results at majors were back-to-back QF appearances at
Roland Garros in 2014 (l. eventual champion Sharapova) and again this year (l. eventual R-Up Safarova)

• Defeat of A.Radwanska in SF means she will move into the Top 10 of the WTA Rankings (potentially as high as
No.6 with title win) for the first time in her career; previous high was No.19 (March 23, 2015)

• Sanchez-Vicario was the last Spanish woman to reach the singles final at Wimbledon (1995-96) while Conchita
Martinez was the last to win the title (1994; d. Navratilova in F)

• Muguruza is the first Spanish woman to reach any Grand Slam singles final since Martinez at 2000 Roland
Garros (l. Pierce in F)

• Becomes one of five players born in the 1990s to make a Grand Slam final – of the five, only Kvitova has gone on to lift the title, both times here at Wimbledon (2011 and 2014)

• Making third main draw appearance at Wimbledon; reaching final marks best result at Wimbledon to date;
advanced to 2r on debut in 2013 (l. Makarova) and made 1r exit in 2014 (l. Vandeweghe); fell in qualifying in 2012

• Prior to 2015 Wimbledon only had one main draw win here; including run to final is now 7-2 at the All England
Club

• Bidding to halt a run of seven defeats by a Grand Slam final debutant (Azarenka – 2012 Australian Open)

(WTA Notes)

SATURDAY WIMBLEDON SCHEDULE
CENTRE COURT – 2:00PM
Serena Williams (USA) [1] v Garbine Muguruza (ESP) [20]
Jean-Julien Rojer (NED) [4] / Horia Tecau (ROU) [4] v
Jamie Murray (GBR) [13] / John Peers (AUS) [13]
Martina Hingis (SUI) [1] / Sania Mirza (IND) [1] v
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) [2] / Elena Vesnina (RUS) [2]

METOFFICE WIMBLEDON SATURDAY FORECAST
Mainly dry with some further warm sunny spells. It should become cloudier and breezier later, with isolated evening showers giving way to persistent rain overnight. Maximum Temperature 79°F.

BET AT HOME ODDS
Serena Williams 1.14 vs Garbine Muguruza 4.94

US TV SCHEDULE
ESPN will have live coverage of the match starting at 9am ET, 2pm local.

POLL