Wimbledon Womens Final Serena v Radwanska: Preview & Predictions

Serena Williams

The 2012 Wimbledon womens final will be contested between Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska.  The semi-finals saw both progress in straight sets; Serena Williams produced one of the most extraordinary serving performances I have ever seen in the womens game as she threw down a staggering 24 aces against a helpless, Victoria Azarenka, 6-3 7-6.  The Belarusian, who will become world number one again if Radwanska fails to win in the final actually played one of her best matches of her year and performed admirably in the second set.  It reminded me very much of their match at the US Open last year although Serena served so much better yesterday and Azarenka played to a higher level too.

Radwanska came through a straight sets encounter with Angelique Kerber, 6-3 6-4.  The match featured some really impressive rallies, but the match finished all too quickly as Radwanska needed just one break in the second set to secure victory.  She served very well and will have to get a large percentage of first serves in against Serena to stand any chance in the final.  Serena has suddenly kicked up several gears in the last two rounds against Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova and is playing at a completely different level to that in the first week.

Serena and Radwanska have only played each other twice before but neither encounter will give the Pole confidence.  They last met in the 2008 Wimbledon quarter-final where Serena won 6-4 6-0.  Radwanska has improved a great deal since then and has even added a touch more power to her game.  There is no doubt Serena is the favourite for this match and the only way I can see her losing is if Radwanska played the match of her career and Serena got nervous.  It can happen I suppose because look at the 2011 US Open final where Sam Stosur produced the match of her life to stun Serena.  Radwanska has beaten Maria Sharapova this year too so she can deal with the big hitters.  

The biggest factor for me though is that this IS Serena's surface and her serve is just dynamite at the moment... if Azarenka and Kvitova combined cannot get a set off Serena, what chance does Radwanska has?  I really want Radwanska to win and hope she can prove me wrong, but Serena is my tip to win the title... it could be a quick one!

Prediction - Serena to beat Radwanska in 2 sets