We have reached finals weekend at Wimbledon and as ever it is the turn of the ladies to play for their title first when Garbine Muguruza takes on Venus Williams on Centre Court at the SW19 venue on Saturday afternoon.
This will be the Spaniard’s second Wimbledon final in three years and she will go in search of her first title while Venus will be appearing in her ninth final and is looking for the crown for the sixth time.
Garbine Muguruza
The 2016 French Open champion made the final here in 2015 where she lost to Serena Williams but she isn’t the only player who has suffered that fate in the past. When on it Muguruza is one of the best players around but the fact she is only the 14th seed highlights the fact that she can be inconsistent.
That hasn’t been the case in this tournament it must be said. Muguruza has only dropped one set in the entire event and that was against the world number one at the time Angelique Kerber. In every match she has played in this competition so far she has hit more winners than unforced errors which is the sign of good play.
Venus Williams
The five time champion will be competing in her second Grand Slam final of 2017 after she lost to her sister in the Australian Open back in January. This will be her first Wimbledon final since 2009 and at the age of 37 this could be her last chance to win the title and I am sure she will want to make the most of it.
Like her opponent in this final, Venus has dropped just one set and that was in the earlier rounds of the tournament. She had this lawsuit thing over her at the time though but since that was cleared up she has played phenomenal tennis not allowing two of the recent form horses a blink in Ostapenko and Konta.
Head to Head
These two have met on four previous occasions with Williams winning three of those matches and Muguruza just once. The Spaniard won their last meeting but that was on clay where you would expect her to dominate. The other three meetings were on a hard court which could be more significant to this match.
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Betting
This is a tricky final to assess in a lot of ways. The main reason for that is because Garbine Muguruza basically had a bye in the semi-final which could cloud a lot of things. As it goes it doesn’t matter to me because I fancy Venus Williams to come through here.
These two are opposites of each other. Muguruza is younger and with that her movement is likely to be better although I thought that with Konta in the semi-final and she couldn’t land a blow on the American.
This is Venus’ best surface and one area where she has a significant advantage is on the serve. Her average first serve speed this tournament has been well over 100mph whereas Muguruza has only averaged over that mark once. It is the second serve that could be the issue. Muguruza averages in the low 80s for mph on that whereas Venus is safely into the 90s.
I expect Venus to put the Spaniard under huge pressure when she returns serve and that can set up enough points for her to create a piece of history and win this for a sixth time at the age of 37.
Tips
Back V.Williams to beat G.Muguruza for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfair
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