Angelique Kerber sprinted to her right to field a hard-hit crosscourt forehand from her opponent, Simona Halep. When she reached it, the German chopped down on a slice backhand and sent the ball, skidding slowly and spinning viciously, a millimeter over the net. It landed short, in front of the service line, and burrowed into the grass. Halep tried to dig it out, but its heavy backspin was too much to control, and she netted the next shot. In real time, Kerber’s stroke appeared to be an accident; there was no name in the tennis textbook for what she had just hit. But in replays afterward, it was clear that she had made the ball do exactly what she wanted, and go exactly where she wanted.
A few games later, Kerber ranged, at top speed, to her left to track down a crosscourt backhand from Halep. It looked for a second like Halep’s shot might go for a winner, but Kerber gobbled up the grass and made up the ground quickly, in time to rifle her own forehand back crosscourt, at a more extreme angle. Two shots later, Kerber was at the net, a place where she typically doesn’t spend much time. No matter: She finished the point with a forehand volley so drop-dead delicate it looked like it was pulled from a John McEnroe highlight reel.
It was that kind of day for the No. 4 seed, who won 7-5, 7-6 (2) in 90 minutes to reach her second Wimbledon semifinal. She was in full, Kerberesque flight throughout, which in her case means that she was improvising new shots off the cuff, creating angles where none seemed to exist and spreading the court for her down-the-line forehand attack. (Kerber and Halep each spent an inordinate amount of time outside the singles sidelines in this one.) While there were too many break of serves—13 over two sets—for it to go down as a classic, this was an athletic and shotmaking contest of the first order. The fact that it didn’t go three sets may have robbed us of a match-of-the-year candidate.
