Serena dominates Venus, improves to 36-1 in 2015

Sisters clash in Slam event for first time since ’09

• “Time!” the chair umpire kept saying Monday on Centre Court, as chair umpires at Wimbledon so often do to mark the resumption of a match after a break.

But the word had particular resonance considering that the Williams sisters were the ones exchanging blows on the grass. Serena Williams, the younger sister and eventually the 6-4, 6-3 winner in this fourth-round match, was certainly thinking about it.

“It definitely doesn’t get easier,” she said of facing her sister, Venus. “But today, I was out there, and I thought, ‘Wow. I’m 33, and she just turned 35. I don’t know how many more moments like this we’ll have.”

Serena said she planned on playing for years but acknowledged that it was never certain that she and Venus would have the chance to play again on the Centre Court, where they each have won five Wimbledon singles titles.

“I just wanted to take the moment in,” Serena said. “I remember when we were eight years old. We dreamed of these moments. It was kind of surreal there.”

Surreal perhaps but ultimately unsurprising. Venus Williams was the role model and the leader when the sisters were very young: the one Serena copied; the one Serena used for a measuring stick. Venus was the first to turn professional; the first to create a buzz in the small world of professional tennis and the wider world beyond; and also, the first to win Wimbledon and reach No. 1.

But Serena has passed her and then some in the career achievement department, racking up 20 Grand Slam singles to her sister’s seven, putting a chokehold on No. 1 and often proving an irresistible force in regular tour events as well.

Serena is now 36-1 this year, which is all the more remarkable considering how excruciatingly difficult some of those victories have proven to be. There is an argument to be made that this has been one of the shakiest great seasons in tennis history. But there was no quibbling with her superiority or composure Monday in a matchup that remains emotionally challenging for the sisters.

Venus won their previous match in Montreal last year, but Serena has now won six of the past seven encounters. They had not faced one another in a Grand Slam tournament since the 2009 Wimbledon final.

But Serena set the tone and pace early Monday, striking the ball with tremendous force and winning the first eight points. Venus pulled herself together to make it a contest, but Serena’s serve was again the more potent and consistent weapon. She hit 10 aces and won 78 per cent of the points when she put her first serve into play, compared with Venus’s two aces and 59 per cent. Serena won 63 per cent of her second-serve points, while Venus won only 33 per cent of hers.

Serena was also the more decisive player from the baseline, hitting 21 baseline winners to her sister’s eight. Serena closed out the first set on serve, hitting three aces in the game. She closed out the match by breaking Venus’s serve at love.

There would be no handshake, just a long embrace and a chat.

Asked if she would be back next year, Venus said, “I think so.”

For now, Serena, who is still in contention for the Grand Slam, is back in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

She will face Victoria Azarenka, a former No. 1 player, who defeated Belinda Bencic, an 18-year-old from Switzerland, 6-2, 6-3.

Azarenka, seeded No. 23, has twice come close to defeating Serena in the past two months. She failed to convert three match points before losing in the round of 16 in Madrid and then lost a 6-3, 4-2 lead in the third round of the French Open.

Williams leads a group of three American women in the quarter-finals. CoCo Vandeweghe upset sixth-seeded Lucie Safarova, the French Open runner-up, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (4). Vandeweghe is in a Grand Slam quarter-final for the first time. Madison Keys, a semifinalist at the Australian Open, also advanced with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Olga Govortsova.

Vandeweghe will next play No. 4 seed Maria Sharapova, who defeated Zarina Diyas, 6-4, 6-4. Keys will face No. 13 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who ousted Jelena Jankovic, 7-5, 6-4.

The other quarter-final will match No. 15 Timea Bacsinszky against No. 20 Garbine Muguruza, who upset No. 5 Caroline Wozniacki, 6-4, 6-4.