Supreme Serena wins third Wimbledon crown
Serena Williams defeats sister Venus at Wimbledon
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Saturday, 04, Jul 2009 08:24
Serena Williams put on an exhibition of hunger and fine technique on Centre Court today to end a six-year wait to regain the Wimbledon title with a 7-6, 6-2 defeat of her sister Venus.
Her victory denied Venus the chance to win a third title in a row and means she now has 11 Grand Slam wins under her belt.
Three of those have now come at the All England Club but she had to wait until the sixth game of the second set to get her first break point of the day and it was Venus who started the match more brightly.
The five-times winner, left leg heavily strapped up, opened with a double fault but showed no signs that injury was affecting her gazelle-like mobility; digging out a low-bouncing shot for an unorthodox forehand winner in game four.
On the other side of the net stood Serena, who chose to knock-up in her favourite white double-breasted mackintosh and was hitting her first and second serves with the same purpose and accuracy that she had in the semi-final when she served 20 aces.
With Venus compensating for her lower ace count by coming up with more service winners there were no break points till game eight when Serena found herself 15-40 and 3-4 down.
A topspin serve kicked too high for Venus to reply to on the first of these and she was pinned deep behind the baseline while sending a forehand long with half the court to aim at on the second.
Serena served her way out of trouble and reached deuce when Venus, struggling with serving into the bright sunshine, served at 5-5.
That she could not force a break point seemed a little unfair considering the part she had played in some ferociously-contested rallies.
It would need a tiebreak to settle the first set. Serena grabbed the mini-break for 3-1 by forcing Venus to net two shots and a knockout combination of a high-kicking forehand followed by a flat one gave her 4-2.
She reached 6-2 when alternating defence with attack and after a fine backhand lob made a good Venus approach shot look like an average one she won the tiebreak for the loss of just three points.
A Venus miss-hit and a double fault gave Serena her first break at 3-2 in the second set and was a sign that the high quality of the first set had dipped considerably.
Serena's 12th ace, she served no double faults, helped her on the way to 5-2 and Venus needed to quickly find her rhythm to stay in the match.
The toe-to-toe exchanges in what turned out to be the final game was a refreshing reminder of just how absorbing the first set had been.
Venus recovered enough rhythm to save four match points on her own serve but it was somehow appropriate that she conceded the match by netting after a long rally.
Serena had constantly made her play one too many shots, asked her one too many questions during the day.
Having won her third All England title, she is young enough at 27 to overhaul her sister's tally of five championship victories before her career ends.
Venus might be the only player on the circuit capable of stopping her doing that.
By James Christie