Friday was semi finals day at the 2015 Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open. The last four women standing — Venus Williams, Roberta Vinci, Garbiñe Muguruza and Angelique Kerber — were all fighting for a place in the showpiece. In the end, Williams got the better of Vinci 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(4), and Muguruza overcame Kerber 6-4, 7-6(5) to set up a dream final for many tennis fans. The seven-time Grand Slam champion and reigning Wimbledon finalist have played twice before, but their last meeting was early last year, and both women have accomplished so much in that time. Williams leads the head-to-head series 2-0.

Williams Overcomes Vinci

First up in semi final action was Venus Williams and Roberta Vinci. Vinci, who is fresh off of making her maiden grand slam final, has enjoyed a great week of tennis in Wuhan. After dropping the first set in her opening round match against Danka Kovinic, the Italian number two has won eight consecutive sets and four consecutive matches to reach this stage of the competition. Vinci had no easy road to the semi final though — she had to battle past Kovinic, Irina-Camelia Begu, Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova. She had to overcome the powerful and aggressive game styles of each of her opponents by countering it with her simple, yet effective backhand slice. Vinci’s variety is something that most players don’t face regularly, which the Italian uses to her advantage. If you rewind back to three weeks ago, you would have recalled Vinci’s incredible win over Serena Williams, ending Williams’ bid for a Calendar Grand Slam. Now fast forward back to semi final Friday in Wuhan. Her opponent is none other than, Serena’s older sister, Venus Williams. Williams has begun a late resurgence in the last month, and it all started in New York City. Despite falling to Serena in three sets at the quarter final stage, Venus showed glimpses of why she used to be at the top of women’s tennis, and pushed her younger sister to the limit. Leading up to that match, Williams had fought past four WTA rising stars in a row, and it was clear that she is still a force to be reckoned with at the professional level.

Her great performance at Flushing Meadows gave the former world number one plenty of confidence going into her first tournament of the Asian swing — the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open. But like Vinci, none of her wins have come easy either. Williams was unlucky and drew Tokyo champion Agnieszka Radwanska in the opening round. That didn’t seem to matter though as she was classes higher than Radwanska that day, winning in straight sets. The following round, Williams defeated the dangerous Julia Goerges relatively comfortably before upsetting a struggling Carla Suarez Navarro in straight sets. In the quarter finals, the American would meet British qualifier Johanna Konta, in one of the most thrilling matches of the tournament. The two split sets before Konta found herself up a 5-3 lead, and one game away from the final four. But from that point on until the rest of the match, Williams’ class and experience shown, as the 35-year-old won 7-5 in the third.

In this encounter, Williams got off to the better start, holding, breaking and consolidating the break to go up a 3-0 lead. But Vinci’s variety began to trouble the American, as she began to make more unforced errors to let the Italian back into the opening set. After trading breaks towards the end of the set, it was Vinci who was able to hold her serve when it really mattered and as a result, won the first set 7-5. The reigning U.S. Open finalist was just a set away from her third final of 2015.

The second set began much like the first but this time, Williams was able to hang on to her lead to even the match at one-set-all. The first three games of the set went with the server before the seven-time Grand Slam champion earned herself the first break point of the set, in which she took to go up a 3-1 lead. 3-1 quickly became 5-1 as Williams’ raw power was becoming too much for Vinci to handle, and the former world number one in singles was exactly where she wanted to be — inside the baseline. Despite getting broken while serving for the set, the 35-year-old was able to break her opponent — three years her junior — to win the second set     6-2.

The final set was the most gruelling and entertaining set of the entire match. It had it all; from great tennis to some drama between the two players, this set was a set to remember. Williams carried the momentum from the second into the third, breaking to go up an early 2-0 lead. However, Vinci refused to go down without a fight, breaking straight back. Venus responded with a break of her own, and was just three games away from the final. From there, both women were able to hold their respective service games relatively comfortably before Williams had a chance to serve for the match up 5-3. The pressure seemed to get to the American and Vinci was given a lifeline back into this match. To her credit, she never gave up and managed to hold serve for 5-5. In the game that followed, both players looked very tense but it was the Italian who was able to force the issue upon Williams, and broke to have a chance to serve for the match. Within a matter of minutes, she was serving to stay in the match and now, she was serving for the match. Vinci held a match point in the next game but was unable to convert it and Williams capitalized on her first break point of the game to force a final set tiebreak. In that tiebreak, both players traded mini breaks before the seven-time Grand Slam champion held her nerve to win the match 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(3). It is also worth noting that Williams was limping towards the end of her match, which was later confirmed to be a leg injury. After all of the tennis she has played this week, Venus Williams’ body could be a little sore so she will want to do everything she can in preparation for the final.

With this win, Williams will find herself back to number 15 in the world on Monday, and even number 14 in the world if she wins the second edition of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open. The 2008 WTA Finals champion is in contention of returning back to the elite group of eight in Singapore next month for the first time since 2009.

Muguruza Battles Past Kerber

Following the Williams-Vinci epic was the semi final encounter between Garbiñe Muguruza and Angelique Kerber. Muguruza was coming off of a disappointing Emirates Airline U.S. Open Series where she won only one out of four matches. After making the final of Wimbledon a couple of weeks prior to the U.S. Open, a lot was expected from the 21-year-old now that she had burst into the spotlight so quickly. Even Muguruza herself, has opened up about the pressures that come with success, and how hard it has been to cope with the stress of it all. But this week in Wuhan, with the help of Sam Sumyk, she seemed to have rediscovered the form that sent her to her maiden Grand Slam singles final. After cruising past WTA rising star Sloane Stephens, the Spaniard met Ana Ivanovic whom she annihilated after losing the opening set. In the quarter finals, Muguruza met fellow WTA rising star Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. The Spanish number one’s power was too much for Schmiedlova to handle, and Muguruza cruised right into the semi finals. Her opponent on the other hand, has had a similar road to this stage of the competition. In her opener, Angelique Kerber had to overcome Jelena Jankovic in three, high quality sets to advance to the third round, much to the relief of the German. In the following round, the world number nine faced the flashy and unpredictable Camila Giorgi. It’s safe to say Kerber wasn’t at her best but she was more consistent than her opponent, which proved to be the deciding factor in this encounter. In the quarter finals, Kerber faced CoCo Vandeweghe. It appeared from the opening stages of the match that Vandeweghe was struggling with an ankle injury and all Kerber really needed to do was move her around to test her mobility. Once again, she didn’t play great tennis but she played well enough to win the match. At 6-1, 3-1 with Kerber serving, it was clear that Vandeweghe was in no condition to continue, and promptly retired which gave the sixth seed the last spot remaining in the semi finals. Coming into this encounter, Kerber edged the head-to-head series 3-2 but Muguruza had won the last two meetings which both came this year at the French Open and Wimbledon.

Generally speaking, the first set was very close — as expected. With Muguruza’s flat, aggressive groundstrokes and Kerber’s strong counter-punching skills, there were some long and high quality rallies that went both ways. Both players traded breaks early on but in the seventh game, Muguruza converted her first break point of the game to go up a break and a 4-3 lead. That break was the deciding factor in this encounter, as the Spaniard successfully served out the opening set 6-4, at the first time of asking.

The second set was an even tighter affair with both players going up and down emotional roller coasters. Muguruza carried the momentum from the opening set into the opening stages of the second to break immediately, in the opening game. However, since Kerber is such a great competitor, she refused to give in, even if her back was against the wall. The German number one broke in the fourth game after some loose errors flew off of Muguruza’s racquet, to level the set at two-games-apiece. From there, the server won the next four games of the match before the returner even had a look at a break point. At 4-4 with Kerber serving, Muguruza sensed her opportunity was there to be taken, and pounced on it. At the first bite of the cherry, the Spaniard converted the break point to go up 5-4, with a chance to serve for the match. In the following game, the nerves were clearly evident in Muguruza’s game, as Kerber broke to 15. Now tied at five-games-all, both players were desperately trying to finish this set — and match — as soon as possible, for obvious reasons. The German fought as hard as she could, but to no avail. The Spaniard had another chance to serve for the match. Could she serve it out this time?

It turns out, the answer was surprisingly no. Muguruza held a match point but during that point, she accidentally touched a ball that was supposed to go out, costing her the point. The fifth seed’s nerves were inevitably coming back, and two nervous-looking volleys from Muguruza — that landed way out — costed her the game. This meant that this tiebreak would have to be decided by a second set tiebreak. In that tiebreak, Kerber got off to the better start, by leading 2-0. However, Muguruza put all of the disappointment surrounding her inability to serve out the match behind her, and clawed her way back. It is also worth noting that the world number eight hurt her ankle at some point in the tiebreak, which forced play to be halted for a medical timeout at 3-all in the tiebreak. Despite the injury to her ankle, Muguruza continued to fight and it began to pay off. After being down 3-5, she won three consecutive points to go up 6-5 and to earn herself another match point. This time, she made no mistake. As Kerber tried to get low to absorb the pace from Muguruza’s return, she over hit the backhand, which sealed a 6-4, 7-6(5) win for the Spaniard.

With this win, Muguruza will crack the top five next Monday and is just a couple hundred points away from qualifying for the WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. A win in the final will automatically secure the Spanish number one one of the eight coveted spots to Singapore, so a lot is riding on this final for both Garbiñe Muguruza and Venus Williams.