2019 Williams Watch- On To The Australian Open Third Round

The Williams Sisters are still handing their tennis business in Melbourne for this year's edition of the Australian Open and cruising toward another Sister-Sister confrontation in the fourth round.

They handled their second round matches in different ways.

Venus continues to do it the hard way.     She had another three set marathon against France's Alize Cornet, but unlike the first round match, she didn't have to go to tiebreakers to determine who won the sets.

Big Sis also flipped the personal tennis script by winning the first set, losing the second, then turning up her game another notch to overwhelm her opponent in the third. 

She beat Cornet 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 to punch her ticket to the third round and a match with the world number one (for now) and the tournament number one seed in Simona Halep of Romania

Halep has also bee flirting with disaster herself the last two rounds, taking three sets to dispose of  Kaia  Kanepi of Estonia and  Sofia Kenin of the US.

Serena so far has looked like her old dominating self.

She rolled through another microwave tennis match, needing just 70 minutes to brush Eugenie Bouchard of Canada out of the tournament in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. 

It was shaky at times, but 22 winners and capturing the last five games to close out the match definitely helps you close matches out in a hurry

Little Sis may only be seeded 16th, but she is still considered the person to beat here as she pursues her record extending eighth Australian Open title and her 24th Grand Slam title overall

Unless the refs start messing with her.  And heaven help Naomi Osaka if they meet in this tournament.  They are on the same side of the bracket.

But first, before we start talking about potential future matches, she has to handle her third round business against Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine.    Yastremska has already taken out Sam Stosur  in straight sets and 23rd seeded Carla Suarez Navarro in the second round in three sets.

2019 Williams Watch- It's Australian Open Time!

'New year, new tennis season, and of course you TransGriot readers know I'll be keeping up with my fave tennis playing siblings in Venus and Serena Williams.

This will be the first time since the 2017 Australian Open final that both sisters will be playing in this tournament, the first Grand Slam of the 2019 tennis calendar.

You'll recall after Serena won that 2017 Open title, her 23rd overall, in straight sets, she discovered she was 24 weeks pregnant

The Williams sisters won't meet in the Aussie final this year, but potentially the fourth round because they are not only on the same side of the women's singles draw, they are in the same section of it.

WTF?

Their 2019 run in the Aussie Open began with Big Sis taking on 25th seeded  Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania in the first round.   Big Sis had to work after dropping the first set in a tiebreaker.   She flipped the script by winning the second set in the tie breaker to even the match, and then blowing out Buzarescu in the third set.

Nevertheless, she persisted and will advance to take on Alize Cornet of France after posting a 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 win.

16th seeded Serena started her quest for her 24th Grand Slam title with an opening round match at Rod Laver Arena  with Germany's Tatjana Maria.

Little Sis wasted little time in administering this tennis beatdown, with her spending a grand total of 49 minutes on the court to send Maria packing.  She fired 22 winners in this match, and took the opening set in just 18 minutes

She punched her ticket to what looks to be a much tougher second round match with Canada's Eugenie Bouchard after a 6-0, 6-2 straight set win.

2018 Williams Watch- Gone From The Australian Open

The first tennis major of the year is finally here, and neither Williams sister is in it.

As y'all already know, Serena gave birth to her daughter Alexis back in September, and had targeted the Australia Open as her time to return to competitive tennis.

But after entering a warm up tournament Down Under and not playing up to her exacting standards. she and her coach decided it would be better for her to spend more time on the practice court getting up to Serena level, and withdrew from the Australian Open. 

That left number five in the world ranked Venus to rep the Williams family tennis honor in Melbourne.   She came into this tournament having had a wonderful 2017 season, played in two Grand Slam finals (Australian, Wimbledon and the WTA Finals and was seeded fifth.

Unfortunately fifth seeded Big Sis was one of the eight players who went down in the opening round of the Australian Open.  She fell in straight sets to Belinda Bencic 3-6, 5-7.   Benci herself was upset in the next round.

Oh well, sad to see that Venus' work week in Melbourne was a short one.   See y'all in Paris for the French Open. 

And hope Serena is there as well.

2017 Williams Watch -It's A Williams Sisters Aussie Open Final!

The 2017 Australian Open is the first Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season, and for the first time since 2003 ,the Williams sisters will be facing off against each other for the title.

We Black folks in the States think this is a BFD, but if you ever wondered how this news is playing out across the rest of th African Diaspora, check out what a Nigerian based TV station is saying about the looting championship match starting at the 1:13 mark.

Venus had the tougher match to get to final, facing giant killer Coco Vandeweghe, who took out defending champ Angelique Kerber

She hadn't dropped a set enroute to this semifinal match with Vandeweghe, but after the first set got away from her in the tiebreaker , she rebounded to break Vandeweghe and cruise  to a 6-2 win to even the match, and then uncorked several aces enroute to taking the third set and the match.



Venus wins it 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-3 to punch her ticket to the final and shots at her first Australian Open title and eight Grand Slam title overall

Meanwhile Serena was facing off against surprise semifinalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia, and she took only 50 minutes to cruise to a 6-2, 6-1 straight set victory and set up she and Big Sis first clash in a Grand Slam final since the 2009 Wimbledon.

She hasn't dropped a set in this tournament, and  Little Sis will not only be playing for her seventh Australian Open title and her 23rd career Grand Slam title win  but if she wins will reclaim the world number one ranking.because of Kerber's early exit from this tournament.

Going to be fun to watch this one at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday.

2017 Williams Watch -On To The Aussie Open Semifinals!

My fave tennis playing siblings are just one match away from meeting each other in the Australian Open Finals for the first time since 2003.  They are also the only seeded players left standing in the women's singles bracket as we reach the Australian Open women's Final Four.

The other thing we can pop our collars about as American tennis fans is that we are guaranteed of at least having one American woman in the final, since three of the four player remaining are Americans.

Two of the three Americans left are the Williams Sisters who for once are on opposite sides of the bracket.

13th seeded Venus has rolled through her side of the bracket without dropping a set, and it didn't hurt that some major seeds that were in that half of the bracket fell, including tournament number one seed and world number one (temporarily) Angelique Kerber.

Big Sis in her quarterfinal match beat Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets 6-4 7-6 (7-3) to punch her ticket to the semifinals against fellow American Coco Vandeweghe, who took out another seeded player by beating 7th seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain  in straight sets 6-4, 6-0.

Meanwhile on the other side of the bracket number 2 seeded Serena handled her tennis business against number 9 seed Johanna Konta of Great Britain, who until she faced Little Sis was on an impressive Australian Open run of her own.

Konta not only hadn't dropped a set enroute to this clash with Serena, but had sent to the Aussie Open sidelines number 17 seed Caroline Wozniacki and 30th seeded Ekaterina Makarova to get to face Serena for the first time ever.

Serena dispatched her in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 despite having a subpar for her service game while breaking Konta four times at critical points in the match.

And who will Serena play next?   It will be Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who upset 5th seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to make her first Grand Slam semifinal since Wimbledon 1998.  

Serena is playing not only to win her 23rd Grand Slam title and her seventh Australian Open, but with a win in this tournament, she would regain the world number one ranking.   Venus would be should she knock off Vandeweghe, playing for her first Australian Open title.

Well, y'all know who I want to win on Thursday.   Let's hope we get to see it happen and we get treated to another Williams Sisters Grand Slam final.

2017 Williams Watch- Rolling To The Quarterfinals

I was a little busy handling some movement business over the last few days in Philly, so I haven't had the chance to sit down and watch much of the Australian Open's first week

The seeds are falling, including the world number one ranked and number one seed Angelique Kerber, who was beaten by Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets.

But I am happy to hear that my fave tennis playing siblings are still kicking butt and taking names on their Melbourne business trip.

When I last checked in number 13 seeded Venus and number 2 seeded Serena had just advanced to Australian Open second round singles matches against Stefanie Vogele and Lucie Safarova, and were waiting to play their first Aussie Open doubles match versus Timea Babos and Anastasia Pavlyuchenko    They withdrew from the doubles to focus on the singles tournament which so far looks like it was a wise decision.

Big Sis sent Vogele packing in straight sets 6-3, 6-2  to set up her third round match versus China's Duan Yingying.   That was also another straight set 6-1, 6-0 victory to propel her into the fourth round against German qualifier Mona Barthel, who knocked off Rio Olympic singles champion and 29th seeded Monica Puig.  

Venus prevailed 6-3, 7-5  to punch her ticket to the quarterfinals against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova  for a spot in the semis against the Muguruza-Vandeweghe winner

Little Sis was also holding it down on her side of the Australian Open bracket.   After sending Safarova to the sidelines with a straight set 6-3, 6-4  victory, she beat fellow American Nicole Gibbs 6-1, 6-3 to advance to a fourth round match against 16th seed Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic.

Serena dispatched Strycova 7-5, 6-4 after a tough match to set up her quarterfinal match with Great Britain's Johanna Konta.

If the Williams Sisters win their next two matches, they will face each other in the Australian Open finals for the first time since 2003.  Serena also has an opportunity because of the Kerber loss to regain the world number one ranking if she wins the tournament.

Oh yeah, it would also be her 23rd Grand Slam singles title and seventh Australian Open after losing to Kerber last year.

And who won that 2003 Australian Open finals clash?   Serena did 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-4 over her big sister.   That was also the only time Venus has reached the Australian Open final.

They still have some work to do Down Under to make that all Williams final happen.    

2017 Williams Watch - The Australian Open Starts

As you longtime TransGriot readers know, I'm a big tennis fan, and two of my fave players are the fabulous Williams Sisters

The first Grand Slam of the 2017 tennis season is already upon us in the Australian Open in Melbourne, and this will be an interesting one.

It will run until January 29 in Melbourne and for the first time in several years, Serena Williams is not going to be the world's number one ranked player in the world going into a Grand Slam after tying Steffi Graf's record of holding it for 186 consecutive weeks.

That's Angelique Kerber (for now), the defending Australian Open champ who is also the number one seed in this 2017 edition of the Aussie Open. Serena is now number two in the world and also and the number two seed while Venus starts this Australian Open as the number 13 seed.

Opening round play got underway yesterday and both my fave tennis playing siblings got through it to the second round.

Venus had a tough opening round match with Ukraine's Kateryna Kozlova, but she prevailed for a 7-6 (7-5) and 7-5 straight set win   She's in the same half of the bracket as Kerber, so there's a possible clash brewing with Kerber should both keep winning.

Big Sis faces qualifier Stefanie Vogele of Switzerland, who upset Kurumi Nara of Japan, in the second round.

Speaking of winning, second seed Serena started with a tough opening round match with Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.   Little Sis prevailed in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 and will face the Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova.

Are the Williams Sisters playing doubles in this Grand Slam?  Yes they are, and they are seeded 15th in the Australian Open doubles tournament    They will face the doubles duo of Timea Babos of Hungary and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia  ,

Can they take some more Grand Slam singles and doubles titles back home when their business trip to Melbourne is over?   We'll  see.  

2016 Williams Watch- Number 22 On Hold

The Australian Open women's title was on the line, and I was up at 2 AM Houston time to watch the action from Down Under and see if Serena Williams would capture her seventh title, take home another Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and win her 22nd Grand Slam title to tie Steffi Graf for second on the women's all time Grand Slam tournament win list.

Fittingly her opponent was 28 year old lefty Angelique Kerber of Germany, who grew up idolizing Graf and does have a recent win against Serena

But this is a Grand Slam final, and Serena is usually on her A+ game for those.  But she wasn't today, and was upset by Kerber 4-6, 6-3. 4-6 to capture her first major Grand Slam title

Meanwhile Serena is still not only the world's number one ranked player even with the loss, she's sitting on 21 major title wins.

Oh well, the French Open is in May.   We'll see what happens there..