Ceci Ferrara
July 13, 2015
Sports Writer
Sports Insider
Serena Williams defeated Spaniard Gabrine Muguruza 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday to win her sixth Wimbledon title and 21st Grand Slam. Though the 21-year old underdog fought hard against Williams, Serena was able to pull away to claim her fourth consecutive title.
Williams now heads to the U.S. Open on a 28-match win streak at the majors.
“I can’t believe I’m standing here with another ‘Serena Slam’ (her term for winning four straight majors),” Williams said. “I’m having so much fun out here, I never dreamt I’d still be out here, let alone winning.”
Williams’ victory against Muguruza came after a disappointing performance at Wimbledon last year. After falling to Alize Cornet in the third round, Williams vowed she could do better. Her words came full circle when she completed the second Serena Slam of her career on Saturday.
Williams recognized her young opponent after the match, offering her these words of encouragement: “Don’t be sad. You’ll be holding this trophy very, very soon.”
Despite falling to Williams, Murguruza’s Wimbeldon performance placed her amongst the very best tennis players in the world. En route to the championship match she beat stars Wozniacki, Kerber, Radwanska and Bacsinszky.
“I enjoyed a lot. I cannot talk. I don’t have the words to say how I feel,” an emotional Murgurzua said. “…I love to play in big courts. I mean a Grand Slam final for me is a dream come true. I want to say congratulations to Serena. She’s still showing us she is No. 1.”
In the men’s singles final, defending champion and No. 1 ranked Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer for the second straight year. The victory was the second consecutive Wimbledon title for Djokovic, who previously won in 2011.
Nationals
The Nationals headed up the beltway to Baltimore for a three-game series last weekend, their last before the All-Star break.
After dropping Friday’s game 3-2 to the O’s, the Nats got off to a slow start Saturday. Jordan Zimmerman struggled, giving up four runs in five innings to dig Washington into a 4-2 hole. Miguel Gonzalez retired 10 batters before Bryce Harper snapped the streak with a leadoff homer in the sixth to cut the deficit to one.
By the end of the inning, back-to-back singles and a three-run shot by Danny Espinosa gave the Nationals a two-run lead en route to a 7-4 victory.
Sunday’s rubber match marked Max Scherzer’s first start since July 7th–his worst outing of the season. He got hammered, giving up five runs in 4.2 innings. Scherzer (10-7) returned to form on Sunday, taking a three-hitter into the ninth inning. He retired 14 straight batters after giving up a solo shot to Adam Jones in the first.
Jones caused trouble for Scherzer again, when he hit a second bomb with two-out in the ninth. Despite the home runs, the Nationals were able to hold on to their 3-2 lead when Drew Storen struck out Chris Davis to end the game.
The victory gives the Nationals (48-39) a two-game lead in the NL East heading into the All Star Break.
Though Scherzer was selected to start in Tuesday night’s MLB All Star Game, he elected to pitch for the Nats on Sunday instead, proving his dedication to the team.
“Hes a team guy,” teammate Dan Uggla said. “There is never a doubt he wanted to pitch today, although I’m sure he wanted to pitch in the All-Star Game. The team came first.”
