Petra Kvitova’s hopes of defending her Wimbledon title were shot to pieces in a hail of Centre Court canon fire from Serena Williams who ousted the defending champion 6-3 7-5 in their quarter-final on Tuesday.

The quality of tennis on show could have graced a final as both players tore into each other with rasping serves and ferocious groundstrokes, but it was the greater power and fight of the four-times winner that won out.

She broke in the sixth game of the first set when Kvitova sent a crosscourt forehand wide and then closed it out when the Czech sent a backhand return long.

Williams saved break point in the 10th game of the second and then made her opponent pay, breaking the very next game before serving it out to set up a semi-final against either Belarus’s Victoria Azarenka or Austria’s Tamira Paszek.