Serena enters Wimbledon semis with comeback victory
London, July 11 : Serena Williams is one step closer to her eighth Wimbledon trophy after she beat Camila Giorgi of Italy 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the quarter-finals.
"I never thought I was in danger of losing this match. Even when I was down in the first set, I thought, "Well, she's playing great, (but) I'm doing a lot of the right things.
"I never felt it was out of my hands. If there is one lesson I would teach my daughter it's never give in, always fight. It's really important in life, no matter what you're going through, to never quit," Williams said afterwards, reports Xinhua news agency.
This is only her fourth tournament since giving birth to daughter Olympia in September 2017, and the 23-time Grand Slam winner pointed out how motherhood had changed her approach to tennis.
"It's different now obviously because I have the baby. Being a mom is totally different," she said. "I just want to be more of a role model for my daughter, for lots of people out there that just want to be inspired."
Williams will take on No.13 seed Julia Gorges of Germany, who also managed a comeback win against Kiki Bertens 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 to make her first appearance in the semifinals at the All England Club.
The other semi-final will see No.11 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany take on No.12 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia as they both bested their respective oppenents in straight sets.
With all top 10 seeds having been knocked out before the quarter-finals, 2016 runner-up Kerber is the highest-ranked player still in the ladies' competition.
In the men's singles, Juan Martin Del Potro finally defeated Gilles Simon 7-6, 7-6, 5-7, 7-6 after a total of 4 hours and 24 minutes, in a match that stretched over two days.
The Argentine will have to recuperate quickly, as his quarter-final match against world No.1 Rafael Nadal is just around the corner.
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Space docking experiment: Spacecraft injected into right orbit, ISRO eyes another tech feat
Sriharikota, (Andhra Pradesh): Two spacecraft that would aid ISRO in demonstrating space docking, a critical technology for future space missions got separated successfully and were placed into the desired orbit late on Monday, ISRO said.
"PSLV C60 mission accomplished as of SpaDeX spacecraft is considered," said Mission director M Jayakumar.
ISRO chief S Somanath said the rocket has placed the satellites in the right orbit of 475 km circular orbit, after over 15 minutes of flight.
"So, as far as we are concerned, the rocket has placed the spacecraft in the right orbit and the Spadex satellites have moved one behind the other, and over the period of time, it will pick up further distance, travel about 20 km away and then the rendezvous and docking process will start. And we hope that the docking process can happen in another one week and the nominal time is going to be approximately January 7," he said in his address from the Mission Control Center.
And in this mission the very important part is POEM-4 (which was currently on) with 24 payloads from startups, industries, academic institutions and also from ISRO centres, he said. These are scheduled to be fired late on Monday night.
Dubbed as a prelude to ISRO setting up its own Space Station by 2035, the PSLV-C60 mission would also make India join an elite club in achieving this feat which is expected to take place in the coming days.
The 44.5 metre tall rocket carried two spacecraft -- Spacecraft A and B, each weighing 220kg which would help in space docking, satellite servicing and interplanetary missions.
After the culmination of the 25 hour countdown which commenced on Sunday, the rocket lifted-off at 10 pm from the First Launch Pad at this spaceport, emanating thick orange coloured fumes and thunderous sound in the island, located about 135 km east of Chennai.
According to ISRO scientists, the two spacecraft-Spacecraft A (SDX01) or the 'Chaser' and Spacecraft B (SDX02) or the 'Target' would be merged together later at an altitude of about 470 km after travelling at the same speed and distance.
By mastering the docking technologies, ISRO is set to enhance its operational flexibility and also expand its mission horizons.
This technology is essential for some of India's space ambitions like Indian on Moon, getting samples from the Moon (Chandrayaan-4 mission), building and operation of the Bharatiya Antariksh Station.
"In-space docking technology is essential when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve common mission objectives. Through this mission, India is marching towards becoming the fourth country in the world to have space docking technology," ISRO said.
The others to achieve this technological feat are China, Russia and the US.
While the Spacecraft has reached the desired orbit, in the coming days, scientists would take measures to merge the two by reducing the distance between them, ultimately leading to the docking of the spacecraft.
The launch of PSLV-C60 would be the last mission undertaken by the ISRO in 2024. Incidentally, the space agency began 2024 with the successful launch of PSLV-C58/XPOSAT mission on January 1.
Monday's PSLV rocket also becomes the first vehicle to be integrated upto the fourth stage at the PSLV Integration Facility (PIF) that has been established at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here.
