The final day of what had been a very pleasant Wimbledon fortnight weather-wise, and little was out of order, other than an occasional upset here and there. Play was brought to a close with Rafael Nadal facing Tomas Berdych. One would have expected the No. 2 seeded to be in his appropriate role in the men’s title contest, but the No. 12 seeded player from the Czech Republic?  That was a shock…and really, that’s what makes the annual grass tussle in London so intriguing.

The Williams Cup, (a.k.a. the Venus Rosewater Dish), was at stake today in the Williams, sorry, Wimbledon Women’s trophy round. The Florida based sisters, Serena and Venus, have owned championship day proceedings on all, but two occasions in the past decade. Looking to add a fourth bauble to her collection, Serena, the top seed and No. 1 in the WTA rankings (Williams Tennis Association…and more about that later) was beyond being just a strong favorite against Vera Zvonareva.

That was the question that everyone in the British Isles, and the entire world of people speaking with a lilting accent, was asking. Will Andy Murray be different? Will he surpass the efforts of fellow Brits (and yes, it’s true he was born in Dunblane, Scotland) such as Mike Sangster in 1961, Roger Taylor in 1967, ’70 and ’73, Tim “Our Hero” Henman in

1998 and ’99, and again in 2001 and ’02, and Murray, himself last year, all of whom reached the men’s semifinals…and their fortnights ended there?

Today, it was Serena Williams, the No. 1 seed, and  “The Others”, who included Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, No. 62 in the rankings, Vera Zvonareva of Russia, No. 21, and Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria, who was the lowest of the group at No. 82.

In truth, little more needed to be written to introduce the women’s Wimbledon semifinalist and defending champion. Williams, the Ace Machine, had clocked 73 in five matches thus far (a record), and was winning 89% of her first serve points. After all, she’s Serena.