Wimbledon, England (Sports Network) – Venus Williams won another title- match battle with her sister, Serena, downing her younger sibling in straight sets on Saturday for her fifth Wimbledon championship.
The seventh-seeded Venus defeated Serena 7-5, 6-4, in the third all-Williams final at Wimbledon in seven years. Serena had won both prior matchups in Wimbledon finals, and had taken five of six Grand Slam final matchups with her older sister, but Saturday was Venus’ day. The 28-year-old won her second consecutive Wimbledon title, and her third in four years.
Venus also won consecutive Wimbledon finals in 2000 and 2001, before her 26- year-old sister took the titles in 2002 and 2003. The win was the seventh Grand Slam title for Venus, who is now one shy of her younger sister, as Serena failed to pick up her ninth.
“It’s definitely not any easier. At the end of the day I’m still disappointed.” said Serena of losing to her sister.
The Williams sisters have combined to win seven of the last nine Wimbledon titles and at least one of them has appeared in eight of the last nine finals at the All England Club.
That same prowess showed up later on Saturday, when the sisters teamed up to win their third Wimbledon doubles title. They took a straight-sets victory over American Lisa Raymond and Australian Samantha Stosur, 6-2, 6-2. The Williams sisters also won doubles titles here in 2000 and 2002.
But in Saturday’s singles match, the sixth-seeded former world No. 1 Serena looked ready to continue her dominance of her sister in Slam finals early, as she won 10 of the first 11 points with relative ease. Venus came storming back, however, and won the hard-fought first set.
The younger Williams took a 1-0 lead in the second set and, though Venus rebounded and went up 2-1, Serena drew even at 3-3 and 4-4. Venus won a 24- shot rally to go up 5-4, however, and a wide backhand from Serena on the second championship point handed Venus another Wimbledon win.
“I just stayed tough on that point,” said Venus. “She was going for it until the end. So of course when I saw it go wide I’m thinking ‘Oh my god it’s five, wow. Five titles.'”
Serena had her chances to take back control of the match, but struggled in converting break points. She finished 2-for-13 on break points, while Venus took advantage of her opportunities, winning 4-of-7.
“I think I just lost rhythm and I just made a lot of errors,” said Serena. “Nothing I was doing seemed to work.”
The sisters have split four matchups at tennis’ most prestigious event, with Serena having won two of three final matchups, and Venus winning Saturday and in a semifinal bout in 2000. The win by Venus also locked up their all-time series at 8-8, and their matchups in majors at 5-5.
This was their second matchup of the season, as Serena beat Venus at a hardcourt event in India earlier this season.
The 26-year-old Serena owns 31 career titles, including three already this year, and is now 8-3 in Grand Slam finals. In addition to her back-to-back Wimbledon titles in ’02 and ’03, she was the 2004 runner-up here to Russian Maria Sharapova.
Venus improved to 5-2 in her seventh Wimbledon final. She defeated France’s Marion Bartoli in last year’s finale and also won in 2005.
The 28-year-old Venus is 7-6 in her career Grand Slam finals and owns 37 titles in 59 career championship matches thanks to her win Saturday. She collected just under $1.5 million for her efforts, while Serena took home approximately $750,000.
Source:?? SportsIllustrated.com
I was quite pleased to see both sisters make their way to the final. This time I could clearly see the difference in mannerisms. Both played well. The commentators have finally startd to refer to them as good athletes good players. Afterall who can play part season and win major titles like they do