Sublime Serena

The sounds were new to Serena Williams, and the feeling on Centre Court was different. The result, though, was quite familiar.

Playing under the retractable roof for the first time on the court where she's had some of her biggest triumphs, Williams eliminated defending champion Petra Kvitova 6-3 7-5 to reach her eighth Wimbledon semifinal on Tuesday. "I loved it. I loved the sound," Williams said. "The sound of the balls. It's kind of like a whoosh and a pop. It's really cool. It's almost like a video game, but you're playing. It kind of flies through and you hear it when it lands...I really like playing indoor."

Her game seems well suited for it as well. While rain disrupted play elsewhere at the All England Club, Williams used another commanding serving performance to overpower the fourth-seeded Czech in 1 hour, 24 minutes. Williams hit 13 aces — including three in the last game — to end Kvitova's 11-match winning streak at Wimbledon. Her last loss here also came against Williams, in the 2010 semifinals. "You can't play a defending Wimbledon champion or Grand Slam champion and not elevate your game," Williams said. "I had to weed out the riffraff and just get serious."

The four-time champion seized control by breaking Kvitova for 4-2 in the first set and then never gave her opponent a chance to get back in the match. She saved a set point when trailing 5-4 in the second with a hard serve down the middle that Kvitova could return only into the net. That was the only break point the defending champion earned, as Williams won 86 percent of the points on her first serve. "I think that's why she's the great champion, because she knows what she needs to play in the important points," Kvitova said. "It's really tough to beat her."

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