Wimbledon Tennis 2016 Women's Final: Williams vs. Kerber Predictions

Serena Williams is again on the brink of history, but once more, Angelique Kerber stands in the way.

The world No. 1 is attempting to win the 22nd Grand Slam title of her career, which would tie her with Steffi Graf for the most in history. However, she was also in this position at the Australian Open in January before Kerber pulled off an upset with her first career major championship.

Both players have been nearly unstoppable throughout this tournament, which should create an exciting battle in Saturday's final.

While Venus Williams' loss to Kerber in the semifinals takes away the sibling rivalry, Kerber vs. Serena Williams should be enough to keep fans entertained throughout.

2016 Wimbledon Ladies' Final

When: Saturday, July 9

Time: 9 a.m. ET (2 p.m. BST)

Where: Centre Court, the All England Club, London

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: WatchESPN

Preview

STEFAN WERMUTH/Getty Images

Kerber hasn't been the most consistent competitor throughout her career, but when she is on, she is tough to stop. She lost in the first round of the French Open at Roland Garros, but it was only a short time after she won the Australian Open.

Now the German is looking to book her own place in history as a giant-killer, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Her run to this point hasn't been anything special—just an example of what you can accomplish when you serve well and avoid beating yourself.

Only once in six matches has Kerber finished with more unforced errors than winners, and she tallied only nine double-faults in this stretch. Four of those came in the win over Venus Williams.

The end result is a 12-0 record in sets with only two tiebreaks faced in the entire tournament.

The 28-year-old simply hasn't been challenged much, even with quality competition in the most recent rounds in Venus Williams and world No. 5 Simona Halep.

That will change in the finals against Serena Williams. The No. 1 seed isn't flawless in London—she did drop a set in the second round against Christina McHale—but she somehow finds a way to get better as the competition grows.

Her semifinal win over Elena Vesnina seemed more like an instructional video than an actual match. Williams cruised to a 6-2, 6-0 finish that ended in just 48 minutes. She had 11 aces and zero double-faults while winning 23 of her 24 first-serve points.

Vesnina only won 21 of 74 total points scored in the match, which would be one-sided for the first round, let alone the semifinals of a major tournament.

Trey Wingo of ESPN summed up the result:

Despite the success, Williams refuses to get ahead of herself after the way the last two Grand Slam tournaments have gone, per the tournament's official Twitter feed:

The 34-year-old lost to Kerber in the Australian Open before falling to Garbine Muguruza in straight sets at Roland Garros in June.

Considering the American has won these types of events 21 times—including three last season—it's probably not pressure that has got to her. Instead, it might be a case of getting ahead of herself and not respecting the opponent.

It's clear this won't be a problem heading into the Wimbledon final as she comes in with plenty of focus.

With Williams' pure power and consistency in this tournament added to the determination to avenge a previous loss, she might be unstoppable.

Prediction: Williams wins 6-4, 6-3

Follow Rob Goldberg on Twitter for year-round sports analysis.