Angelique Kerber has ended hopes of a fifth all-Williams Wimbledon final with a straight-sets victory over Venus Williams in their semi-final on Centre Court this afternoon.
The Australian Open champion continued her record of not having dropped a set at this year's championships with a 6-4 6-4 win over the veteran American, whose dream of winning a sixth Wimbledon title was ended.
Williams had earlier seen sister Serena power past Elena Vesnina in under 50 minutes, but her quest to set up a ninth Grand Slam final meeting between the siblings got off to a poor start when she was broken in the very first game.
At 36, the American was the oldest Grand Slam semi-finalist since Martina Navratilova made the final at SW19 in 1994, but she continued to roll back the years by breaking immediately herself to restore parity.
That was the theme of the opening set as only one of the first eight games went with serve, and it was Kerber who got that crucial hold to take control of the contest.
Williams finally held for the first time to bring it back to 5-4, but Kerber successfully served it out and took the opener 6-4 at the second time of asking.
Kerber again got off to a perfect start in the second set by breaking in the very first game as Williams was in danger of allowing her first Wimbledon semi-final since 2009 to slip away from her.
The five-time champion kept her hopes alive by saving three break points in the fifth game, but the solitary break in the opening game proved to be enough as Williams lost her perfect 8-0 record in Wimbledon semi-finals.
Kerber will now look to dethrone reigning champion Serena Williams in her first ever Wimbledon final on Saturday.
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