Williams Sisters Headed For Grand Slam Final
Published on July 6 2016 6:49 am
Last Updated on July 6 2016 6:50 am
By ESPN
The Williams sisters could be headed for another meeting in a Grand Slam final.
Venus Williams made it back to the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time in seven years on Tuesday, and defending champion Serena Williams advanced to her 10th final four at the All England Club.
Mounting another title run at the age of 36, five-time champion Venus beat Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 7-6 (5), 6-2, advancing to the semifinals for the first time since 2009 and first time at any major since the 2010 US Open.
"I love playing the game, I always have," the eighth-seeded Venus said. "When you're winning matches it makes it that much sweeter. I can't lie about that."
From 5-2 down in the tiebreaker, she ran off five straight points to take the first set, then rolled through the second set on No. 1 Court. She's one win away from returning to the Wimbledon final for the first time since 2009, when she lost to Serena.
"The wins and the losses, they all lead to these big moments," Venus said. "You can't always have this big moment. If you're Serena Williams, I guess that happens a lot. As Venus Williams, this is an awesome day."
A short while later, Serena beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-4, 6-4 on Centre Court, finishing the match with a 123 mph ace to extend her record in Wimbledon quarterfinals to 10-2.
Venus will next face No. 4 Angelique Kerber, the Australian Open champion who held off No. 5 Simona Halep 7-5, 7-6 (2) in the first match on Centre Court, a defensive battle that featured 13 breaks of serve, including eight in a row in the first set.
Serena will play Elena Vesnina, a 50th-ranked Russian who defeated Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-2, becoming the first unseeded women's semifinalist at Wimbledon since 2010.
Asked about the possibility of meeting her sister and doubles partner in Saturday's final, Serena smiled.
"It would be great," she said. "Obviously, she's such a tough opponent. But I want her to win so bad -- obviously not in the final if I'm there. But, if I'm not there, I desperately want her to win."
