Serena beats big sister Venus

LONDON (AFP) — Serena Williams won the latest installment of her rivalry with sister Venus as the world number one eased into the Wimbledon quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-3 victory on Monday.

Serena, bidding for her sixth Wimbledon title, took just 67 minutes to see off Venus on Centre Court and will play Victoria Azarenka or Belinda Bencic for a place in the semifinals.

The 33-year-old hit 36 winners and 10 aces to secure her 14th win in 26 meetings with her older sister, but it was clear neither sibling enjoyed the experience.

“It’s hard to feel excited about (beating) someone you root for all the time no matter what and you love so much and is your best friend in the world,” Serena said.

“It’s never easy to play someone you love and care about.

“But I don’t know how many more moments like this we’ll have. I plan on playing for years but you never know if we’ll have the opportunity to face each other. So I just took the moment in.”

With the awkward family reunion out of the way, Serena can refocus on her bid to rewrite the history books.

The American, whose record for the year now stands at a remarkable 36-1, remains on course to become the first woman to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back since she last achieved that feat in 2002.

She is on a 25-match winning run at the majors, a blistering sequence that brought her the 2014 US Open crown and the Australian and French Open titles this year.

Serena will hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time if she wins a sixth Wimbledon crown on Saturday.