Serena Williams has had to put out some seriously raging fires at this Wimbledon so far. Another fiery clash is expected when the world number one plays Maria Sharapova in the women's singles semifinal at Centre Court on Thursday.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion was involved in the best women's match at Wimbledon 2015 in her quarterfinal against Victoria Azarenka. The quality of tennis and the power of the groundstrokes in that match was a thing of beauty, with Serena again showing just why she is the holder of three of the four Grand Slams at the moment by coming up trumps when it matter most against an inspired opponent in Azarenka.
"I feel like me and Victoria always have really wonderful matches," Serena said after her 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over the former Australian Open champion. "She's always able to push it to three sets. We always have some great three set matches.
"Whenever I see her name I get excited because I feel like there's going to be an opportunity to see how far I am, how well I'm doing. We always play each other pretty much every tournament. I'm usually getting used to that."
Serena will also be used to playing Sharapova in the Grand Slams, and beating her quite often as well. While the Russian has done well to improve on the Wimbledon title she won here 11 years ago to go on and complete a career Grand Slam, what she hasn't been able to solve over the last decade or so is the Serena puzzle.
Every time these two greats of the game have met in recent years, there has only been one winner, and to change that Sharapova, who fought past Coco Vandeweghe in three sets in the quarterfinals, will need to find a previously unknown gear.
"There are definitely no secrets between each other's games," Sharapova said of playing Serena. "I mean, look, I haven't played Serena here in 11 years. That would be an incredible moment for me to step out on Centre Court against her again."
To stop Serena from entering the final and possibly completing another "Serena Slam", Sharapova will need to put pressure on the American's serve. Whenever Serena has come under pressure, her serve has helped her survive, which was the case in the Azarenka match as well.
Throw Serena off her service game, and Sharapova will have a chance of moving into the final.
Serena, though, will know if she continues to serve the way she has done in this semifinal as well, then that 11-year unbeaten run against Sharapova will continue.
"I love playing Maria," the five-time Wimbledon champion added. "I think she brings out the best in me. I think I bring out the best in her. I thought we had a wonderful final in Australia. It was very entertaining. She played really well.
"For me, I don't feel like I have any pressure going into this match. We both actually lost early last year. We both are kind of enjoying this moment and one of us will be in the final."
Where to Watch Live
Get the Serena vs Sharapova Report HERE
Get the Muguruza vs Radwanska Final Score and Report HERE
Sharapova vs Serena is the second semifinal match at Centre Court on Thursday with the first one set for a 5.30 pm IST (1pm BST, 8am ET) start.
The semifinal match will be shown live on Star Sports 2 in India, while the action can also be watched via live streaming online on Starsports.com and Hotstar.
ESPN is the place to be to watch Serena Williams vs Maria Sharapova live in the US, with the live stream option on Watch ESPN. Channel 7 will show Maria Sharapova vs Serena Williams live in Australia, with the live streaming option on Channel7 online.
UK viewers can watch Serena vs Sharapova live on BBC One, while the match can also be live streamed on on BBC iPlayer.
The radio options for the semifinal match are BBC Radio 5 Live and Wimbledon Radio.