It took less than five minutes for the sense of ceremony that preceded the semi-final between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova to be supplanted by an inevitability that has become numbingly familiar.
Sharapova, serving from the Royal Box end amid flawless conditions on Centre Court, was broken after double-faulting three times in her opening service game. Once Williams consolidated with a pair of heat-seeking 118mph aces, the greatest front-runner in sports had all the edge she needed.
The world’s two highest-profile sportswomen may compete for the same endorsements, column inches and trophies, but Williams’s straightforward victory to book a place in the final – where she will face the Spanish ingénue Garbiñe Muguruza – proved once again this is no more a rivalry than hammer v nail.