Aces high as Serena reaches seventh Wimbledon final

Four-time champion Serena Williams buried Victoria Azarenka under a record firestorm of 24 aces to reach her seventh Wimbledon final on Thursday. The 30-year-old American claimed a 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) semi-final win and will on Saturday tackle third seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, the first Pole in a Grand Slam final in 73 years, aiming to claim her 14th major. As well as a record 24 aces, beating her own best of 23 set against Zheng Jie in the third round, Williams also fired a whopping 45 winners. Williams will start as the hot favourite on Saturday having beaten Polish world number three Radwanska in their two meetings without dropping a set, including the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2008 where the American lost just four games. Williams played two doubles matches on Wednesday with sister Venus, but showed no signs of fatigue against Azarenka, taking the first set courtesy of eight aces and 20 winners, while allowing her opponent just four points on the American's serve. That was the first set dropped by the 22-year-old Belarusian at the tournament. Buoyed by a 7-1 winning record against the Australian Open champion, who could have retaken the world number one spot had she won, Williams broke for a 2-1 lead in the second set, secured with a sweeping forehand service return. Azarenka hit back to level at 3-3 and then saved a match point in the tiebreak. But the record 24th ace, blitzed right down the middle, gave Williams a deserved win.