Williams vs Williams:
NEW YORK: Built-up like a major heavyweight fight and with a celebrity audience to match, Venus Williams tried to halt her sister Serena’s march towards history.
And like everyone else at the US Open so far Venus failed, but not before she made her younger sibling ride the emotional big dipper in the course of a sharply undulating 6-2 1-6 6-3 victory
At nearly 34, Serena is now two matches away from becoming the fourth woman to do the calendar year grand slam, and she could hardly have a more comfortable looking task in the last four, in the shape of unseeded Roberta Vinci.
Trying but often unable to shut out sentiment, seemingly determined not to make much eye contact with her sister, the 21-times major champion recovered from a second-set collapse to finish the job in one hour and 38 minutes.
There was plenty of overt angst from Serena’s end, enough to make this feel less the private family affair than is sometimes the case.
The whole thing appeared to be an ordeal, and while Venus smiled as they embraced at the net after a twelfth and final ace, the sensation was one of relief for the champion elect. “She is the toughest player I have ever played in my life and the best person I know,” said Serena.
“It’s going against your best friend and the toughest competitor in women’s tennis so it’s very difficult. When I’m playing her I don’t think of her as my sister. Holding serve was all I could do in the third set, it wasn’t easy at all.”
You knew it was a big occasion by the barometer of those in attendance, and the complete absence of empty seats in the Arthur Ashe Stadium. From Oprah Winfrey to Donald Trump to Kim Kardashian, they flocked out to the otherwise unfashionable suburb of Flushing.
Among those who were not there were the Williams’ mother Oracene, sister Isha and, as is now customary, father Richard.
Serena came in with a 15-11 record over her sister, who has more career victories against her than anyone. And there was more immediate danger in the fact that Venus had served more aces at this event than the whole women’s field.
The expectation was only built up by a delay of more than an hour due to the over-running of the preceding men’s quarter-final.
That did not seem to affect either of the thirtysomething siblings, who played to a higher level than is sometimes the case in the complex dynamic between them.
Rallies were not especially plentiful and it was not long before Serena was tucking into her opponent’s second serve, and the favourite quickly took the first set in 33 minutes with two breaks.
Only in the second did Serena’s nerves, so evident in her wobbly first-week performances, start to kick in as Venus’ serve and forehand, still remarkably effective at 35, began to fire properly.
The defending champion failed to halt the surge from Venus, whose first serve percentage was hitting 80 percent.
The first break for 3-1 was achieved through a double fault, as Venus’ returns piled the pressure on the serve from the other end.
The overall error count mounted and in almost mirror image of the first set, the match was levelled within the next half hour.
If there were any conspiracy theorists thinking one family member might usher the other through they had their answer. As if the 35-yearold world number 23 was going to give up one of her last chances to achieve a huge landmark in her career.
Irritated by the crowd and showing more emotion than she often does in this fixture, Serena found that extra level that seems exclusively hers as she raced ahead to 3-0 in the decider.
As shown with the brevity of the exchanges, this match was all about serves and returns. As the champion closed in on the win every point seemed like a gigantic effort, but she was helped by her serve, thumping down a 122km ace at 4-2 and 30-30.
This was a better match than the near procession seen at Wimbledon, and that was largely down to the much-improved Venus. Her sister is now four sets away from the latest achievement in an extraordinary career. – Daily Mail