Serena Beats Venus At Wimbledon, Stays On Track For Grand Slam

Serena Williams right and her sister Venus Williams stretch ahead of their singles match, at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, Monday.

The world No. 1 kept her dreams of a calendar Grand Slam alive by beating her older sibling 6-4 6-3 in little over an hour yesterday. There is something special about the Williams sisters, especially when they play against each other.

World number one Serena won 6-4 6-3 and will take some stopping as she goes in search of her sixth title at SW19. Serena faces Azarenka, the 2012 and 2013 Australian Open champion, in the quarter-finals after the Belarusian 23rd seed saw off the in-form Belinda Bencic, on a career-high ranking of 22, 6-2, 6-3.

In a rematch of their previous US Open final, Serena was chasing history as she wanted to be the first to win all four grand slams back to back.

Serena was relieved to have beaten the only player she regards as her equal, in the process ensuring she remains on course to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win all four Grand Slams in the same year.

Williams said she feels comfortable once she makes the last eight of a Grand Slam, while Azarenka said she was still searching for the key to unlock the world number one’s defences. She hasn’t had the success of her sister, but she’s had her success, winning nine Grand Slam titles throughout her career. “So when that moment is over, it will be over”.

Venus, 35, and Serena have combined to win 27 Grand Slams, including five for each at Wimbledon.

“I served well today, and that helped me to come through”. Of the five other remaining men, only one – Gasquet, in 2007 – has even made it to the semifinals at the All England Club.

There used to be a conspiracy theory that the outcome of regular Wimbledon meetings between the Williams sisters was decided over breakfast in their shared rented house. “Very aggressive”, said Serena’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou.

They say never meet your hero but Heather Watson came so close to both meeting and beating her hero at Wimbledon.

Keys won3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

The impressive Serena earned another two break points at the start of set two with a sublime forehand victor, but veteran Venus – who had the majority of the crowd on her side – refused to lie down and showed great character to hold.

“We’ve played a lot of years and we’ve tried to be entertaining”.

Meanwhile, French Open runner-up Lucie Safarova was sent tumbling out of Wimbledon in the fourth round yesterday by unseeded American Coco Vandeweghe.

“I honestly didn’t think I… was going to win”, Williams told CNN. Vandeweghe had never gone past the third round of any major until this years Wimbledon.Sharapova downed Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-4.

Some 17 years after the inseparable siblings first met in the professional arena, neither Williams asked or offered any quarter.

Richard Gasquet smashed a racquet in frustration after missing out on two match points in the third-set tiebreaker before finally eliminating Nick Kyrgios 7-5, 6-1, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (8-6).