Serena Williams Defeats Petra Kvitova to Advance to Wimbledon 2012 Semifinals

While it was not her best match of the tournament, Serena Williams was able to defeat Petra Kvitova in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Tuesday afternoon. 

Williams knocked the fourth-seeded Kvitova out in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5. She battled back from a 5-4 deficit in the second set to win the last three games to claim victory. 

As successful as Williams has been in this tournament, she has done it in less than spectacular fashion. She needed three sets in her last two matches over Jie Zheng in the third round and Yaroslava Shvedova in the fourth round. 

Despite needing three sets to defeat Shvedova, Williams never seemed like she was in trouble. She lost her way in the second set after dominating the first set but finished with a strong 7-5 final-set victory. 

The quarterfinal match against Kvitova played out a lot like that match. Williams had some problems with unforced errors and her serve, though she was clearly the superior player in this match, and it showed in the final three games. 

This will be the first Grand Slam semifinal for Williams since the US Open last year, when she beat Caroline Wozniacki before losing to Samantha Stosur in the finals.

With this victory, Williams will await the winner of the Victoria Azarenka-Tamira Paszek match. The women's semifinals will take place on Thursday. 

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