Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Wimbledon Day Eight: Williams sisters reach the semifinals

LONDON – The quarterfinals of the women's singles played here today were something special.

This is the first time since the modern era of Grand Slam tennis began in 1968 that none of the top four seeds reached the quarters.

Who's left? Ladies of six nationalities: two Russians and two Americans and Chinese, Thai, Czech and Polish players. This is the first time that two players from Asia have reached the quarterfinals of a major.

Of course, the Williams sisters constantly have rewritten the rulebook. Conventional wisdom says you have to come into Wimbledon "match tight" in order to constitute a real threat. Every year these two ladies arrive here having missed this or that tournament and nursing injuries. Tennis pundits take up a lot of time telling us how they'll pay the price.

This year, Venus and Serena Williams have played only eight tournaments. All the other big-name casualties were victims of fatigue caused by playing too many tournaments around the globe or they were nursing injuries.

And here are the Williams sisters on quarterfinals day, fancying their chances of playing each other in the final on Saturday. This would be the third time, with Serena winning in 2002 and 2003.

Today, Serena Williams was up against Agnieszka Radwanska, the older half of the Polish sister duo. Serena beat her 17-year-old sister, Ursula, last week. Serena and 19-year-old Agnieszka had met once before, on clay in Berlin in May. Serena won comfortably then, and it was no surprise to see her brush aside the Polish teenager in straight sets. Her serve gave her the edge at the end of the first set and Radwanska didn't get a look in at the beginning of the second, as Williams took seven games in a row, hitting 26 winners on her way to the 6-4 6-0 victory.

Defending champion Venus Williams had beaten her unlikely quarterfinal opponent Tamarine Tanasugarm, a 31 year old from Thailand, six times in their last six meetings, without conceding a set.

Today's test proved equally trouble-free, even though Tanasugarm was able to make a decent match of it. The first set lasted just under an hour, longer than most would have predicted. Six times Tanasugarm held break point, but she couldn't convert as Williams pounded down her serves, including one at 126 mph. Tanasugarm had a point for 5-5 but in the end as the point was squandered, Williams took the first set 6-4. In the second set the break by Williams in the opener led to an eventual 2-0 lead and she had a point for a 4-1 lead at one stage. The inevitable was delayed for a few more minutes as Tanasugarm kept fighting until Williams took the first of her two match points to finish off the set at 6-3.

Williams's assessment of the match afterwards: "Obviously she was playing well to get to the quarters. You have to play really well to get to the quarters of a Slam."

Fifth seed Elena Dementieva was up against fellow Russian Nadia Petrova. The first four games between the two girls were normal. Then Petrova foot-faulted on a second serve. She wouldn't accept it and had a word with the official – no budging. She continued to dispute it even as Dementieva took the next five games and the set 6-1, as well as an opening break in the second set. This turned into a 5-1 lead for Dementieva and Petrova held to make it 5-2.

With Dementieva serving for the match, things turned unbelievable. Dementieva became flustered and double-faulted all the way to a tiebreak where she threw away two match points. Petrova took the second set on the tiebreak.

In the third set Dementieva raced to a 4-0 lead as Petrova decided to reintroduce her “falling apart” act. Dementieva double faulted and lost serve. She took the match on the first of two match points, much to the relief of the crowd, who looked as exhausted as the players. She now takes on Venus Williams in the semifinals.

The fourth quarterfinal pitted Jie Zheng, the Chinese wildcard who caused the shock defeat of top-seed Ana Ivanovic, against Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic. Zheng produced her magic again and beat the 18th seed 6-2 5-7 6-1. She now meets Serena Williams in the semifinal.

James Borg, a freelance journalist, has covered the All-England Lawn Tennis Championships for 31 years. He spent a few months in Las Vegas and did work for Caesars Palace. He lives in London

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy