Venus Williams' presence felt at Wimbledon as Tatjana Maria reaches the semifinals while wearing outfits by her brand 'EleVen by Venus'
Tatjana Maria's breakthrough performance at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships has provided great joy to German tennis fans, as the unseeded 34-year-old became the first player to reach the Wimbledon semifinals this year. However, Maria's progression at the tournament is also a bit of good news for Venus Williams.
During the ongoing Wimbledon Championships, Tatjana Maria has been sporting kits sponsored by the brand 'EleVen by Venus', which was founded by five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams.
Maria wore the sponsored kits during the quarterfinals victory against her compatriot Jule Niemeier on Court No. 1 and will take to the court in a similar outfit for her maiden Grand Slam semifinal.
Venus' brand @EleVenbyVenus has got some more screen time at Wimbledon thanks to Tatjana Maria, who plays her QF match today #Wimbledon 👀 https://t.co/DAvNBBIVzd
Maria never made it past the third round of a Major before Wimbledon 2022. Her previous best result was a third-round appearance at Wimbledon in 2015.
In Tuesday's quarterfinal, she made a strong comeback after losing the opening set 4-6. Maria was quick to respond in the second set, breaking Niemeier's serve twice to grab the set 6-2. In a keenly-contested deciding set, Niemeier hit a backhand volley straight into the net as Maria broke serve to win 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
An emotional Maria could not believe the moment and the two players then shared a warm embrace at the net at the end of the match.
The moment @Maria_Tatjana sealed a stunning quarter-final comeback victory ✅
#Wimbledon https://t.co/3cH7NZDNxB
Venus Williams bowed out in the second round of the mixed doubles event of her comeback Grand Slam. Williams and her doubles partner Jamie Murray lost 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(16) in a thriller against the British pair of Alicia Barnett and Jonny O'Mara. Earlier, they won a three-set battle against Alicja Rosolska and Michael Venus in their opening match.
Tatjana Maria joins Serena Williams on an elite list with the quarterfinals victory
Courtesy of her win in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, Tatjana Maria became just the fourth player in 38 years to reach the Wimbledon semifinals despite being ranked outside the Top-100 of the WTA rankings.
The World No. 103 joined Serena Williams on that list, who reached the 2018 semifinals ranked #181 in the world. The other two players to achieve the feat since 1984 are Mirjana Lucic in 1999 (No. 134) and Jie Zheng in 2008 (No. 133).
4 - Since 1984, only 4 female players have reached the semifinals in #Wimbledon ranked outside the top-100: Mirjana Lucic in 1999 (#134), Jie Zheng in 2008 (#133), Serena Williams in 2018 (#181) and Tatjana #Maria this year (#103). Miracle
@WTA @WTA_insider #Wimbledon2022 https://t.co/5qqF8wERQO
En route to the semifinals, Tatjana Maria claimed her first big win by beating 26th seed Sorana Cirstea in the second round. She then stunned 5th seed Maria Sakkari in straight sets before overcoming a tough challenge from 12th seed Jelena Ostapenko to win 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 in the Round of 16.
Maria is set to face the winner of the match between 3rd seed Ons Jabeur and another unseeded player Marie Bouzkova for a place in her first-ever Grand Slam final.