Angelique Kerber and Serena Williams to meet in rematch of Australian Open final

The casual tennis fan might be disappointed that Saturday’s women’s singles final at Wimbledon doesn’t feature sisters Serena and Venus Williams.

But the more discerning observers know that the better matchup prevailed: Serena Williams versus Angelique Kerber of Germany.

Theirs is a rematch of this year’s Australian Open final, which Kerber won in an upset, and pits the players who will be No. 1 (Williams) and No. 2 (Kerber) when the new rankings come out next week.

Despite the left-handed Kerber winning their last meeting, the right-handed Williams is the favorite, and has won six Wimbledon singles titles.

Williams, who turns 35 in September, has 21 Grand Slam singles titles, one shy of the record held by Steffi Graf, who happens to be a mentor to Kerber, 28.

“She was always an idol for me, I have watched a lot of her matches, on YouTube sometimes,” Kerber said of her fellow German native. “I met her a few times — the last time she told me, just believe in yourself.

“I will try to be the next one to win here after Steffi.”

For the past 178 weeks, Williams has been ranked No. 1 in the world, the longest such streak of her career.

“It is significant to me,” Williams said of her ranking. “No one wants to give it up when they have it. Obviously I have a lot of tough competition. But at the same time, I am going to have to work really hard, be really determined, especially with this summer coming up, to hold on to it.”

The singles final is just the start of a long day for Williams on Centre Court. Later, she and Venus play for a doubles title against Hungary’s Timea Babos and Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova.

sam.farmer@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATimesfarmer