When the No. 1 seed, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka stepped onto Centre Court today, everyone knew there was a battle on its way, but few would have imagined just how tense the match would be.

The final scoreline of 3-6 6-2 6-3 in Williams’ favour does not do justice to the sheer grit and determination displayed by both players. The effect of Sascha Bajin, Williams’ longtime hitting partner, who joined the Azarenka camp this year, was very evident in Azarenka’s performance throughout the match.

The first set belonged to Azarenka, who took the match to Williams, chasing down every shot and forcing the No. 1 seed to make mistakes. Azarenka dominated the net play and Williams who normally blasts out a multitude of aces, only managed to serve 3.

Azarenka started off well in the second set but Williams, who was not going down without a fight, upped her game and showed why she deserves to win a 21st Grand Slam title. She turned the tables on Azarenka and with her unbelievable self-belief, powerful serves and overall domination forced the decider and then with the help of 9 aces and 18 winners, went on to clinch the match.

This means that her semi-final opponent will be longtime rival, Maria Sharapova, who has not been victorious against her since 2004.

The 2012 finalist, Agnieszka Radwanska was made to work in her three set 7-6 3-6 6-3 win over the American, Madison Keys and in doing so, set up a semi-final clash against Spain’s Garbine Muguruza who needed just 86 minutes to dismiss fellow up and coming player, Timea Bacsinszky from Switzerland 7-5 6-3.