Wimbledon; Men’s Semifinals Today

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) – Simona Halep stands between Serena Williams and her 24th Grand Slam championship.  Williams has reached Saturday’s Wimbledon women’s singles final for the 11th time by mowing down Barbora Strycova, 6-1, 6-2 in Thursday’s semifinal. The 37-year-old Williams needed just 59 minutes to move one match victory closer to her eighth championship at the All England Club.  Williams was limited to just 12 matches this year before reaching Wimbledon. Her game has gotten better with each round of the tournament, and she converted four of her five break points to make quick work of the unseeded Czech.  Halep is in the Wimbledon final for the first time following a 6-1, 6-3 rout of Elina Svitolina on Centre Court. Halep broke Svitolina three times in the first set, and then again to take a 4-3 lead in the second. She won the match with another break in the final game.  Williams has won nine of her 10 meetings with Halep, including a victory at the Australian Open this year.  The men’s semifinals are Friday as second seed Roger Federer takes on No. 3 Rafael Nadal (nah-DAHL’) after top-ranked Novak Djokovic faces No. 23 Roberto Bautista Agut.