Centre Court was the scene of a vintage performance from Venus Williams, who trounced Aleksandra Wozniak, 6-1, 6-3, in a match which saw the five-time Wimbledon champion roll back the years.
The two have met once before, in Miami earlier this year, when Wozniak held a match point. Venus, who was playing her first tournament since the 2011 U.S. Open, still won the contest. There was no such struggle for the American today.
Neither player got off to a great start; Wozniak opened the match with a double fault, then made a flurry of errors to be broken. Serving to consolidate, Williams delivered a serve which landed well outside the doubles alley, but she held on. Wozniak won her next service game, but from that point on it was all Williams, who won nine straight games to lead 6-1, 4-0 after a stretch of sublime play which reminded us forcibly what a phenomenal player she has been and still is.
There was cautious optimism about Williams’ chances for a second singles gold medal after her victory against Sara Errani, but where she has struggled recently is in putting together back-to-back wins, as her energy level seems to fluctuate wildly from day to day, presumably due to the auto-immune disease Sjögren’s Syndrome. There was no listlessness about her today.
Williams served beautifully, but the real stars of the show were her groundstrokes, especially her backhand down the line, played with a quick release and a racquet-head speed which made it lethal time and again. Always a crucial tell where her game is concerned, it was a pleasure to see Williams stepping inside the baseline on virtually every single point, taking the ball early, and putting it into the corners with pinpoint accuracy.
As Wozniak struggled to serve to stay in the opening set, Williams landed a forehand winner down the outside of the line for 0-30, then gave a fistpump and ‘come on!’ to herself, an unusual but encouraging sign of competitive fire. Breaking for a 6-1 lead in 22 minutes, Williams then broke Wozniak twice more to lead 4-0 as she reeled off winner after winner.
Wozniak, despite an unhelpful five double faults, did not play badly. The Canadian is a powerful ballstriker, but she tends to rely on depth of shot rather than angles, and as a result was generally unable to get Williams moving wide. She was allowed into the match late in the second set, when Williams abruptly descended from the otherworldly peak of excellence she had occupied for nine games. Her forehand began to leak errors and she was broken for 1-4 after a beautifully struck return from Wozniak. Williams broke straight back, but couldn’t close the match at 5-1, and when Wozniak held from 0-30 for 3-5, the five-time Wimbledon champion had to attempt to serve out the match a second time. She rose to the occasion with a love hold in which her winner total reached 32 for just 14 unforced errors, sealing the match with her fifth ace.