The entry under career record at the grass-court Grand Slam: “55-7.” The listing of her best result: “WINNER 2007, 2005, 2001, 2000.”
Yet another reason to like her chances: The way she served during the ensuing 6-4, 6-3 quarterfinal victory over Tamarine Tanasugarn - smacking eight aces, saving nine of the 10 break points, tying her Wimbledon record with a 127-mph delivery.
That extended Williams’s winning streak at the All England Club to 12 matches, including 19 sets in a row.
Nonetheless, at least one person who knows a thing or two about tennis and a thing or two about Venus flatly rejected the notion that she’s the favorite: Serena Williams.
Asked after her own impressive quarterfinal victory - 6-4, 6-0 against 11th-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska - whether her older sister should be considered the likeliest champion, Serena shot back: “I would never sit here and say she’s the favorite when I’m still in the draw. What are you on?”
Rather than a sibling rivalry, that response perhaps reflects nothing more than the sort of competitive drive that helped the younger Williams win eight Grand Slam singles titles. That haul includes the 2002 and 2003 Wimbledon championships, each time concluded by beating her sister.
With one more win apiece, they’ll reprise the all-in-the-family final tradition Saturday. In Thursday’s semifinals, Serena will face 133rd-ranked Zheng Jie, the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam semifinal by upsetting 18th-seeded Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.
Venus next will play the highest-seeded woman left, No. 5 Elena Dementieva, who beat No. 21 Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-3.
Zheng is the first wild-card entrant to reach the women’s semifinals at Wimbledon; only one woman ranked lower has made a Grand Slam semifinal.
Like Zheng, Radwanska and Tanasugarn were playing in the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time. Unlike her, they were forced to deal with a Williams on Tuesday.
More specifically, they were forced to deal with those Williams serves, developed by their father long ago on the courts in Compton, Calif.
“We’re different,” Venus said. “I serve big almost every time. She goes for a little more placement.”
Against Radwanska, Serena hit 11 aces, including four in one game while pulling even at 3-3 in the first set. On the last of those, Radwanska lunged and whiffed, then grimaced at her racket.
“It’s too much, you know,” Radwanska said.
She isn’t exactly a nobody, having won the Wimbledon junior title in 2005 and pulled off an upset of defending champion Maria Sharapova at last year’s U.S. Open. But Serena made her look absolutely ordinary, if that, taking 28 of the last 37 points.
Serena mixed in flat 120-mph serves with spinning, kicking changeups; Venus stuck with hard stuff against Tanasugarn.
“I have a lot of power, so it helps,” Venus said. “Definitely, the power helps.”
She produced some of her best stuff when she needed to, particularly in the match’s sixth game.
Tanasugarn earned six break points, and the first five vanished thanks to, in order, a 107-mph service winner, a 102-mph service winner, a 115-mph service winner, a 94-mph service winner and a 122-mph ace.
On break point No. 6, Tanasugarn managed to put her return in play but then slapped a forehand into the net.
That’s when she turned her back to the court and motioned toward the players’ guest box with her hand, raising one finger at a time to count out missed opportunities: 1-2-3-4-5-6.
Neither Williams has dropped a set during the tournament, and their seedings - Serena is No. 6, Venus No. 7 - seem to have been miscalculated. It’s the first time at any Grand Slam in the 40-year Open era that none of the four top-seeded women reached the quarterfinals, making the path even smoother for the siblings.
Hard to believe, but there hasn’t been a Williams vs. Williams final at a tournament since 2003 at the All England Club.
And what if they do meet again for the title, in what would be their seventh matchup in a Grand Slam final? What would breakfast be like Saturday morning at the place they’re sharing here?
“I’m going to sabotage her and eat all the breakfast,” Serena said. “I’ll eat all the Wheaties so she doesn’t have any chance.”
Five-time champ Federer faces Ancic, last man to beat him at Wimbledon
WIMBLEDON, England - The last player to beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon has a law degree, wrote a thesis about the men’s tennis tour and cracked the top 10 two years ago at age 22.
Among his achievements, however, Mario Ancic is best known for his upset victory over Federer in 2002.
“Since then he hasn’t lost on grass,” he said. “Unbelievable.”
They meet again in the quarterfinals today, with the top-ranked Federer three wins from a sixth consecutive Wimbledon title. Since the loss to Ancic in the first round six years ago, Federer has won 63 consecutive grass-court matches, including 38 at the All England Club.
“I can sit here and talk stories about the great win and how I beat Roger Federer,” Ancic said. “But actually it wasn’t Roger Federer as we know him today.”
Federer and his nemesis, No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal, were the only top-10 players to reach the men’s quarterfinals, keeping them on course to meet in the final for the third year in a row.
Nadal said he feared being forced to quit after he stumbled and hurt his right leg Monday in the second game against Mikhail Youzhny. After being treated and taped by a trainer, Nadal went on to an easy win.
“I really thought at that moment that I injured myself,” Nadal said Tuesday. “I even thought about the ligament, since I heard a crack. I was very scared, believe me.”
His quarterfinal opponent will be No. 12-seeded Andy Murray, trying to become the first British man to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936. The match’s winner will advance to the semifinals against the winner of the match with the improbable pairing of No. 94-ranked Rainer Schuettler and No. 145 Arnaud Clement.
Two-time major champion Marat Safin will play in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal since winning the Australian Open in 2005. His opponent will be No. 31-seeded Feliciano Lopez, with the winner to face the Federer-Ancic winner.
All eight Wimbledon quarterfinalists are from Europe, the first time that has occurred at a Grand Slam tournament in the Open era.
Federer’s last loss at the All England Club came the year after his upset win at Wimbledon against seven-time champ Pete Sampras. Federer had yet to win a major championship but was seeded No. 7, while Ancic was an 18-year-old qualifier ranked 154th and playing his first Grand Slam match.
“What a shocker that one was,” Federer said. “I was just really disappointed when I lost.”
Federer also beat Ancic a month ago in the third round at the French Open. Since losing to Ancic in their first meeting, Federer is 5-0 against the Croatian, sweeping all 14 sets.
