 "Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/The Associated Press")
WIMBLEDON, England — The purple “W” logo at Wimbledon might as well stand for the siblings who have made the women’s championship their own playground. Yes, the Williams sisters are back in the Wimbledon final.
Venus and Serena Williams won in contrasting fashion Thursday to set up their fourth all-sister Wimbledon final and eighth meeting in a Grand Slam title match.
Two-time champion Serena saved a match point and overcame Elena Dementieva 6-7 (4), 7-5, 8-6 in 2 hours, 49 minutes — the longest women’s semifinal at Wimbledon in at least 40 years. Five-time winner Venus, meanwhile, needed only 51 minutes to demolish Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0 and reach her eighth Wimbledon final.
“Oh, my God, this is my eighth final, and it’s a dream come to true to be here again and have the opportunity to hold the plate up,” Venus said.
The sisters — with 17 Grand Slam titles between them — will face each other Saturday in a Fourth of July final.
“A fourth final — it’s so exciting. It was so hard before my match to watch all that drama,” Venus said, referring to Serena’s semifinal. “It was so difficult. But the hardest part is next to come, to play Serena Williams.”
One Williams or the other has won seven of the past nine championships at the All England Club. Serena beat Venus in the 2002 and ‘03 finals, and Venus came out on top against her younger sister last year.
“All I know is a Williams is going to win,” said the sisters’ father, Richard.
Venus is bidding to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1991-93 to win Wimbledon three years in a row.
There have been seven previous all-Williams championship matches at majors, with Serena holding a 5-2 lead. Overall, the sisters are 10-10.
Venus said she was rooting for Serena to win Thursday, but will now do all she can to stop her sister and win her eighth major title.
“I’m happy for her to be in the final, but I have to face her and defeat her,” Venus said. “I don’t necessarily want her to lose, but for sure I want me to win. I don’t want to see myself disappointed. I need to get my titles, too. I’m still the big sister, but I’m still going to play great tennis.”
The difference in the two semifinals couldn’t have been more striking.
The Serena-Dementieva match was the longest women’s Wimbledon semifinal by time since 1969; records are incomplete before then. Venus’ win was the most one-sided women’s semifinal since Billie Jean King beat Rosie Casals by the same score in 1969. The last time a semifinal ended 6-0, 6-0 was in 1925.
After Serena’s tense, drama-filled escape against Dementieva, Venus barely broke a sweat against Safina. The Russian is ranked and seeded No. 1 despite never having won a Grand Slam tournament. Safina won only 20 points and was completely outclassed by the third-seeded Venus, who has been playing some of her best grass-court tennis at this tournament.
“She’s just too good on grass,” Safina said. “It’s not my favorite surface, and it’s her favorite surface. I think she gave me a pretty good lesson today.”
Be the first to comment on this article!