Wimbledon 2016 Results: Thursday Winners, Scores, Stats and Singles Draw Update

Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber both booked their 2016 Wimbledon final spots on Thursday, advancing to the last round of the tournament with routine wins over Elena Vesnina and Venus Williams, respectively.

Kerber played solid, defensive tennis and took full advantage of Venus' many mistakes, while the top seed needed less than 50 minutes to cruise to a win in her most dominant showing of the tournament.

The men will return for their semi-finals on Friday, as Roger Federer battles Milos Raonic and Andy Murray takes on Tomas Berdych. Here's a look at Thursday's results:

Match	Result
Angelique Kerber (4) bt. Venus Williams (8)	6-4, 6-4
Serena Williams (1) bt. Elena Vesnina	6-2, 6-0

Recap

Defending champion Serena had yet to really impress during this year's Wimbledon tournament, but she booked her ninth spot in the final at the All England Club with some of the best tennis she has played all year.

Bleacher Report UK couldn't help itself:

As shared by Wimbledon's official Twitter account, just about everyone was in awe of what they saw:

Vesnina is more of a doubles specialist than a singles star, and it showed on Thursday, as the Russian spent the entire match chasing after groundstrokes and trying to old her own in the rallies. She dropped the first four games before gaining some control of her serve, but she lost her composure again in the second set.

In the return game, she grabbed just three points in total on Serena's serve, and an upset never seemed likely.

Per BBC Sport, Serena hoped to meet her sister in the final, where she'll have the chance of matching Steffi Graf's Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam titles:

"

We've had tough matches before and I knew she could bring it to me on this surface.

It's never easy out there, every point you have to fight for.

I can't believe I'm in the final this year. I'm 0-2 this year [Serena lost the Australian and French Open finals] so I'm determined to win one.

"

But Kerber, who beat Serena in the final of this year's Australian Open and has cruised her way through the tournament so far, had other ideas. While the fourth seed struggled with her serve against the older Williams sister, the 28-year-old used smart positional play and excellent defence to book her ticket for the final.

As shared by Live Tennis, Kerber has used clever positional play throughout the tournament:

"

Check out the difference in distance run - #Kerber yet to lose a set this year, #VenusWilliams has lost 2. pic.twitter.com/uS4SCz5GRC

— Live Tennis (@livetennis) July 7, 2016"

Kerber was far from perfect on Thursday, dropping her first two serve games and allowing Venus far too much space to advance to the net. She recovered in time, however, finding better range in the rallies and holding serve when Venus appeared on the verge of a comeback.

Per ESPN's Brad Gilbert, Venus was far from her best:

A quick break early in the second set put Kerber on the path to victory, and she cleaned up her play and cut back on her unforced errors to ensure Venus never got the chance to find a rhythm and make this match a contest.

Kerber will have to do far better against the younger Williams sister, however, particularly if the defending champion plays close to the level she showed on Thursday. The 34-year-old has a date with history, and as of right now, no one seems capable of stopping her.