It was Julia Görges’ good luck to be drawn against the world’s 181st-ranked player in the semi-finals here. Or it would have been if that player had not happened to be Serena Williams. She swept Görges aside 6-2, 6-4 in an hour and 10 minutes of ruthlessly efficient tennis. So, five months after she finished her maternity leave and four tournaments into her comeback, Williams is in the Wimbledon final again. She has now won 20 consecutive matches here. And given how well she is playing, her run may well stretch to 21 when she plays Angelique Kerber on Saturday. It would be her 24th grand slam title, which would equal Margaret Court’s record.

Williams says she has not been thinking about the record, that she had actually forgotten about it until it was brought up after the match. “I don’t want to limit myself,” the 36-year-old said. She put so much pressure on herself when she was trying to win her 18th major and she does not want to make the same mistake again. So 24 is “just a number and I want to get as many as I can”. She has different motivations now. It is easy to forget that Williams was pregnant this time last year. She says she forgets it herself sometimes, that it is “something I have to keep reminding myself”. And of course “it’s no secret I had a super-tough delivery.

“A lot of people were saying: ‘Oh, she should be in the final,’ but for me it’s such a pleasure and a joy because, you know, less than a year ago I was going through so much stuff.”

Williams lost count of the number of surgeries she had. “It was just routine every day, I had to have a new surgery. Because of all the blood issues I have, I was really touch-and-go for a minute.”

There was, she said, “a time I could barely walk to my mailbox” and it was not so long ago. The American has been through so much it annoys her that she has been made favourite. But then in the very next breath she admits “when I wasn’t a favourite, I was kind of upset about that” too.

The final she played against Kerber was her last at Wimbledon before she went on maternity leave. She won it in straight sets but Kerber has at least beaten her before, twice, including in the final of the Australian Open in 2016, so has some history to draw on.

Görges, though, has never taken so much as a set off Williams in the four matches they have played. She is 29 and has been playing some brilliant tennis in this last fortnight. But then so were the other women Williams has played in her 10 semi-finals here, and the only one who beat her was her sister Venus, back in 2000.

On top of all that Görges was playing in a grand slam semi-final for the first time. She had never made it past the fourth round before; it was not just the opponent she had to deal with but the occasion. Görges coped with one better than the other. “I settled on to the stage well,” she said. It was true, she was not overawed so much as she was outplayed. She has a big serve and a wicked forehand and she used both well early on. She staved off a break point, closed out her first service game with an ace and then had two deuce points on Williams’ serve.

It turned out that was as close as she would come to a break for the next hour of the match because Williams soon warmed to her work and won a break point to go 3-2 up. That gave her a grip on the match that she never let slip. Her power pushed Görges back behind the baseline, while her slice dragged her wide from one side of the court to the other. At 5-2 Williams had three set points on Görges’ serve. She took the first of them. Görges had played well, she hit 12 winners and made only five unforced errors in that first set, but it did not matter. Williams had raised her game to another level altogether.

Görges had blinked on a couple of key points. And that was all it took. All of a sudden the first set was over and the match as good as gone. The second set was a similar story. Again Williams broke Görges to go 4-2 up; this time Görges was so desperate to find a way to beat her that she tried her very first drop shot of the match on break point. It did not work. Williams, meanwhile, cruised almost unhindered through her own service games. Görges hit more aces than any other player on tour last year and has done again this year too. But Williams beat her in that stat as well, five to three.

Williams let it drift only when she was serving for the match. Görges celebrated that one break as if it was a win in itself. But of course all it did was draw forth Williams’ wrath and she duly broke Görges right back in the next game.

Last month Görges had lost to Williams in the third round of the French Open. She said it was obvious Williams has “improved with every single match she’s playing here”. This is ominous for Kerber but wildly inspiring for all the other working mothers watching.