2013 Williams Watch-Serena's In The French Open Finals!

After getting her stiffest challenge of her 2013 Paris business trip to Roland Garros in a three set quarterfinal scare from Svetlana Kuznetsova, Serena Williams moved on to her first French Open semifinal in a decade against the fifth seed, Italy's Sara Errani.

Errani was last year's French Open women's tourney runner up, but it was no contest for Little Sis as she took only 46 dominating minutes to punch her ticket to her first French Open final since she won it all in 2002.

Serena was on her A++ game today as she took only 21 minutes to win the first set and won the first 9 games before Errani finally broke through on her serve to win her lone game in this 6-0, 6-1 rout on Court Phillipe Chatrier.  

Williams bumps her current match win streak to a career best 30 straight matches and a 22-0 record this season on clay and faces in the final defending 2012 French Open champ Maria Sharapova, who survived a three set grunt fest against Victoria Azarenka.  

Sharapova has a 2-13 record against Serena, but one of the wins came in the 2004 Wimbledon final and she lost to Serena in straight sets recently on clay at the 2013 Madrid Open final 6-1, 6-4.

So will Serena be holding the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen Saturday for the first time since 2002?   I wouldn't bet against her the way she's playing right now.   

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2013 Williams Watch-Serena's Headed To The Semis!

"She's the best in the world. She has been playing unbelievable tennis. But I believe that I have game and my good days as well. Let's cross fingers I will have a good day."
--Svetlana Kuznetsova

For much of the match Svetlana Kuznetsova was having a good day on Court Suzanne Lenglen against Serena J. Williams.

After getting blitzed in 28 minutes in the first set by Little Sis, Kuznetsova took an injury time out, regrouped and rallied to take the second set as Serena's play came down a level from her fast start.  

Kuznetsova had Serena down 0-2 in the third set and for a moment visions of another quarterfinal round loss (2004, 2007, 2009 to Kuznetsova and 2010) at Roland Garros were on the horizon for Serena Williams.   

But Little Sis simply refused to go out like that again and stepped up her game.  In that critical third game of the set she fought off three Kuznetsova break point chances, held serve and then kicked her game to another level to win 6-1, 3-6,6-3 punch her ticket to the semifinals for the first time since 2003.

She'll face number 5 seed and last year's French Open runner up Sara Errani of Italy for a chance to play in her first French Open final since 2002. 

2013 Williams Watch-On To The Quarters!

Serena Williams is still in the hunt for her 16th Grand slam title after taking only 70 minutes to breeze past 15th seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-1, 6-3.   It was her 28th consecutive match win and puts her in the quarterfinals of the French Open for the first time since 2010.

She's an unbeaten 20-0 on clay this year, but now faces the woman that knocked her out of the 2009 French Open and went on to win the title that year in Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova. 

The two time Grand Slam champion Kuznetsova knocked off 8th seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany in three sets to punch her ticket to the quarters

Since losing in the French Open first round last year, Little Sis is 71-3 and has won the Wimbledon singles and doubles titles, the Olympics singles and doubles titles, the US Open singles title and the WTP Championship.

Should she get past Kuznetsova, she would make it to the semis at Roland Garros for the first time since 2003 and the way she's playing right now I wouldn't bet against her doing it.

2013 Williams Watch-Serena To Fourth Round

Serena Williams' march to her first French Open women's championship since 2002 continued as she took on Sorana Cirstea of Romania in her third round match on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Little Sis took 61 minutes to send the 26th seeded Cirstea to a 6-0, 6-2 straight set defeat with the first set taking the world's number one ranked player only 23 minutes to complete.

She has only dropped six games total in her three matches so far at Roland Garros, is on a career best 27 match (and counting) win streak and awaits the winner of the Roberta Vinci-Petra Cetkovska match which was in its third set as I compiled this post.

Meanwhile, the person who gave Serena her last loss in a Grand Slam singles tournament is lurking at the other end of the women's singles tournament bracket. 

17th seeded Sloane Stephens has yet to play her third round match with Marina Eracovik of New Zealand and is on a potential fourth round collision with defending French Open champ Maria Sharapova assuming she survives her match with China's Jie Zheng.

And you know after Stephens flapped her gums and dissed Serena  earlier this month, many of us in tennis world would love to see a rematch between the two in the French Open finals.  

But there's still a lot of tennis that needs to be played before that can happen and Sloane has a tougher draw with people like Victoria Azarenka, Samantha Stosur, Petra Kvitova and Sharapova still in it.  
  
The first weekend in Paris is shaping up to be a very interesting one for us tennis junkies. 

TransGriot: Update:  Serena will face Roberta Vinci in the fourth round. 

2013 Williams Watch-Good News Bad News At Roland Garros

The 2013 edition of the French Open started yesterday in Paris and will run through June 9. 

Unlike that Grand Slam tournament on the other side of the English Channel that my fave tennis playing siblings have dominated to the point I call it 'Williams-don', Stade Roland Garros and its clay courts have been a frustrating career long house of horrors for the Williams Sisters.

They have won the French Open doubles title twice in 1999 and 2010, but the only time Big and Little Sis have made it to the French Open singles final was in 2002 when Serena beat Venus in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 for her only French Open singles title to date.

2002 is also the last time that either Williams sister has made it to the finals of the French open women's singles.  Venus has never won a French Open singles title and that streak will sadly continue. 

Stade Roland Garros is also the site of the only first round loss ever for Serena Williams in a Grand Slam tournament when she shockingly lost last year to 111th world ranked qualifier Virginie Razzano of France 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3. 

Number one world ranked and number one seeded Little Sis however sent a message to the 2013 French Open field that she's in it to win it this year by blitzing in 51 minutes her first round opponent Anna Tatishvili of Georgia, 6-0, 6-1.

She faces France's Caroline Garcia in the second round and if you think she isn't pissed about her first round loss here last year or what transpired in Australia back in January, y'all don't know Serena Jameka Williams very well do you?

Unfortunately as I mentioned earlier, Big Sis is done in this 2013 singles tournament.   Venus took 3 hours and 19 minutes to go down fighting to Urszula Radwanska, the baby sis of 4th seeded Agnieszka Radwanska.7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (4-7), 6-4.   Ironically, Agnieszka Radwanska eliminated her from last year's French Open singles tourney in the second round.

But her competitive stay in Paris isn't over because she and Little Sis are playing doubles at Roland Garros.  They are seeded 12th in this French Open doubles competition and are seeking their first doubles title since 2010.

They will start the quest for their third French Open doubles crown with their opening round match with the doubles duo of Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia.  

Here's hoping that on June 9 I'm writing some good news about my fave tennis playing siblings taking home the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen and the Coupe Simone Mathieu. 

FYI in case you're wondering, those are the names of the championship trophies for the French Open women's singles and women's doubles tournaments.

2013 Williams Watch-End Of The Aussie Open Title Chases

The title chases for the Williams sisters Down Under came to a screeching halt in the Australian Open quarterfinals.

In doubles, Big and Little Sis fell to the Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci 6-3, 6-7 (5-7) 5-7 to end their chance to take home their fifth Australian Open doubles crown.. 

Then a few hours later Serena faced rising newcomer Sloane Stephens with a trip to the semis to take on Victoria Azarenka in the balance.

In the first set looked like Little Sis was going to send the 19 year old fellow American to the sidelines, taking only 29 minutes to win the first set 6-3.   But after opening up a 2-0 lead in the second set Stephens began to fight back and live up to her growing rep as 'the next Serena'.   She chased down shots and frequently made successful foray to the net for drop shop winners that kept her in the set and gave her chances to break Serena's serve.

Stephens caught another break with Little Sis leading 4-3 in the second set when Serena suffered a back spasm while trying to avoid running into the net. 

The injury basically took away Serena's formidable serve for several games and allowed Stephens to pounce on it, climb back into the match and take the second set.

Serena started recovering from the back spasm in the third set but by that point young Stephens wasn't intimidated by her idol and stayed close until she broke Serena again for the deciding set win. 

6-3, 5-7, 4-6.  It was the first loss for Serena in a Grand Slam since the 2012 French Open, ended her chance at another Serena Slam, and was the first time she's lost to an American teenage tennis player since 1999.

And for the haters gloating about this loss, all I have to say about it is remember what happened the last time Serena lost in a Grand Slam tournament.   She won Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Open.

See y'all in Paris in May.. 

2013 Williams Watch-Serena To The Aussie Open Quarters

Little Sis' quest for her sixth Australian open singles title is still on track thanks to her fourth round straight set blitzing of 14th seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko.

It took number three seeded Serena less than an hour (57 minutes to be precise) to post her 6-2, 6-0 win and set up an intriguing quarterfinal match up with the woman who is touted in international and US tennis circles as possibly being 'the next Serena'.

She is 19 year old and 29th seeded American Sloane Stephens, and yep, she's a sistah playing in her first Grand Slam tournament.  

Stephens outlasted Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 to set up the match with the woman Stephens described as her childhood idol.   They have already faced each other in Brisbane, a match that Serena won 6-3, 6-4.

But this time it's in the Australian Open quarters, and her idol has not dropped a set in her methodical march to the quarterfinals.

Winner of this match will take on the survivor of the Victoria Azarenka-Svetlana Kuznetsova match.    Azarenka is the defending Aussie Open champion and tournament number one seed while Kuznetsova sent 10th seeded Caroline Wozniacki packing 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.  

Naw, I still haven't forgotten that foul shyt Wozniacki pulled in Brazil.

Ahem, focus Moni.

As I mentioned in a previous Williams Watch report, the sisters are still kicking butt and very much on track in their quest for their fifth Australian Open doubles crown. 

They have yet to drop a set in theis tournament, and the 12th seeded Williams sisters now face in the doubles quarterfinal round the Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci for a spot in the semifinals against the 4th seeded Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.  

2013 Williams Watch-Rolling To The Doubles Quarters

My fave tennis playing siblings are still in the mix for their fifth Australian Open doubles title.

Little Sis and Big Sis are seeded number 12 in the doubles bracket and opened their title pursuit with a 6-3, 6-1 straight set win over Camila Giorgi of Italy and Stefanie Voegle of Switzerland that took only 70 minutes to complete..

They faced in the second round Vera Dushevina of Russia and Olga Gorvortsova of Bulgaria and they were dismissed in straight sets as well 6-1, 6-2 in 76 minutes.

In the doubles third round they faced fifth seeds Nadia Petrova of Russia and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia who took only 74 minutes to fall 6-2, 6-3.  

The Williams sisters now face in the doubles quarterfinal round the Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci for a spot in the semis against the winner of the match between 4th seeded Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina vs Spain's Silvia Soler-Espinosa and Carla Suarez Navarro. 

The Spanish duo punched their quarterfinal ticket by upsetting the 5th seeded team Liezel Huber of the USA and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-4.

The Williams sisters are in position to get their first Australian Open doubles title since 2010, but still have a lot of tennis left to play to get there.

2013 Williams Watch-Mixed Results Day

Both of my tennis playing sisters went into the third round on a roll with neither having dropped a set so far in this opening Grand Slam of the year in Melbourne..

But while third seeded Little Sis was facing unheralded Ayumi Morita of Japan, 25th seeded Big Sis had a tough one in number two seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia.    Venus' pursuit of her first Australian Open singles title ended with a 1-6, 3-6 straight set loss.

Meanwhile Little Sis kept on kicking butt, but had to work for it a little bit.  .She breezed through the first set with Morita, but found herself down 0-3 early in the second set.  She won the next six games with a little help from Morita to take the match in straight sets 6-1, 6-3 to move to the fourth round and her next match with 14th seeded Maria Kirilenko.of Russia.

And for those of you wondering if Caroline Wozniacki is on Serena's side of the bracket, she sure is..  Assuming Wozniacki holds up her end, they would meet in the Australian open semifinals.  But tournament number one seed Victoria Azarenka is on Wozniacki's side of the bracket and will definitely have a say in whether that semifinal match happens.

But Venus' business trip to Melbourne isn't over.  She and Little Sis are seeded number 12 in the doubles bracket  side and still chasing their fifth Australian Open doubles title.  

2013 Williams Watch-On To The Third Round

The first week of the 2013 Australian Open continues with my fave tennis playing siblings still kicking butt and taking names in women's singles.

Both won their second round matches in straight sets with Venus taking 77 minutes to complete her straight set 6-3, 6-3 victory over France's Alize Cornet and Serena taking 75 minutes in her straight set 6-2, 6-0 demolition of Garbine Muguruza of Spain to move on to the third round.

While Serena will be taking on Ayumi Morita of Japan in her third round singles match, Venus will have her work cut out for her when she takes on number 2 seed Maria Sharapova of Russia.

The first round of the Australian Open women's doubles competition finally got cranked up with Little and Big Sis taking on the duo of Camila Giorgi of Italy and Stefanie Voegle of Switzerland.

As in the singles competition, the Williams sisters made quick work of their first round doubles opponents, taking only 70 minutes to handle their tennis business with a 6-3, 6-1 straight set win. . 

They move on to a second round doubles match with the duo of  Vera Dushevina of Russia and Olga Gorvortsova of Bulgaria

2013 Williams Watch-Handling Their Tennis Business

My favorite tennis playing siblings are in Melbourne handling their tennis business and playing in the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2013 tennis season in the Australian Open.   Venus and Serena both played their first round women's singles matches and easily breezed into the second round.  

They have yet to play their first round doubles match against the duo of Camila Giorgi of Italy and Stefanie Voegle of Switzerland.

In the women's singles tournament 25th seeded Venus needed only 60 minutes to dismiss Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan in a 6-1, 6-0 straight set victory to move on to the second round and her match with Alize Cornet of France   .

3rd seeded Serena however had a little more drama in her 54 minute 6-0, 6-0 blitzing of Edina Gallovits-Hall of Romania.  While leading 4-0 in the first set she slipped on the Hisense Arena surface and lay motionless for several minutes before receiving lengthy medical attention for a rolled ankle. 

After the medical timeout she was in noticeable pain, but not enough to resumed kicking butt and moving on to a second round match against Garbine Muguruza of Spain. 

She said in an interview after the match that she will be ready to play her next scheduled match on Thursday Melbourne time

Sure hope so because she has been on a roll lately.  If she goes on to claim the Australian Open singles title she would regain the world number one ranking.   But there's a lot of tennis that needs to be played before she gets to that point.

2013 Williams Watch- Australian Open Starts Today

Another tennis season is about to start with the first Grand Slam tournament of the year in the 2013 Australian Open and yep, my fave tennis playing siblings are in it to win it as the haters continue to hate..

It starts today on our side of the International Date line (Monday) in Melbourne and runs through January 26..

Serena finished 2012 on a Grand Slam roll in taking 'Williams'-don, the Olympic singles gold medal and the US Open and teaming with big sis Venus in taking the Wimbledon doubles and defending the Olympic doubles gold medal they won in Beijing. 

Serena starts off the chase for a 2013 calendar year Grand Slam in the best shape of her career, is seeded number 3 in the women's singles tournament and won the Brisbane International warm up tournament earlier this month without dropping a set .  Little Sis starts her quest for her sixth Australian Open title with a first round match against Edina Gallovits-Hall of Romania

Venus starts this 2013 Australian Open in pursuit of her first ever title seeded 25 and with a first round match against Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan.   She made it to the 2003 final but lost 6-7(4-7), 6-3, 4-6 to Little Sis. 

And yes haters, the Williams sisters are playing doubles in this tournament.  They are seeded number 12 on the doubles side and in pursuit of their fifth Aussie Open double crown and first since 2010.  They will take on in their opening round doubles match Camila Giorgi of Italy and Stefanie Voegle of Switzerland 

So good luck ladies, and may y'all have long deep runs in the singles and doubles tournaments. 

2012 Williams Watch-Whew! US Open Champ

In her run to the final Serena Williams had rolled through this 2012 US open tournament without dropping a set and losing only a total of 19 games.

Serena was facing an opponent in 2012 Australian Open champ Victoria Azarenka she has a 9-1 record against including the Olympic tennis tournament semifinals last month.

Another US Open women's final blowout in the making, right?   Um, that's not quite how it played out.

When Little Sis breezed through the opening set in just 34 minutes it looked like the rout was on.   But unfortunately in this match Little Sis wasn't on her usual A+ game.  She was hitting more unforced errors (45) than she was hitting winners (44) and Azarenka was doing enough on her end to stay in the match and take the second set. 

Yep, this US Open women's final was a three set affair for the first time since 1995.   World number one ranked Azarenka played well enough in this match to where she was up 5-3 in the third set and two points away from the US Open title.  

But you don't win all those major titles Little Sis has without having some serious intestinal fortitude and having the ability to win matches when you're down.  Serena rallied back to win that game and the next three to win it 6-2, 2-6, 7-5

Little Sis captured her fourth US Open title, her first since 2008 and the 15th Grand Slam title of her career to put her in striking range of catching Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert who have both won 18 majors.

She capped an amazing summer of tennis which included the 2012 'Williams'-don singles and doubles titles, the gold medals in single and doubles at the London Games and now the US  Open singles title.  And did I mention Little Sis got handed a check for $1.9 million for her two weeks of work at Flushing Meadow?

She's the champ once again even if she wasn't playing her best tennis Sunday.  Deal with it, Williams sisters haters, the check and the trophy have her name on it and she's climbing up the tennis ranking charts once again. 

And oh yeah, the 2013 Australian Open  is from January 14-27. 

 

2012 Williams Watch-Serena's In US Open Final!

When I last checked in on my favorite tennis playing siblings Serena was still rolling through the 2012 US Open singles tournament without dropping a set and they were about to play in the third round of the US Open doubles tournament against the Russian duo of Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko.

Unfortunately the Williams sisters attempt to win the 2012 US Open doubles title was halted in straight sets in the third round by the Russian duo of Petrova and Kirilenko 1-6, 4-6 who got some revenge for the Olympic butt kicking they got courtesy of Big and Little Sis..

Oh well, there's next year at Flushing Meadow for another doubles title run..

But never fear Williams Sisters fans.  Little Sis is still kicking butt, taking names and breezing through the 2012 US Open women's singles tournament in ruthlessly efficient fashion.  

Serena blitzed through her fourth round match with Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic 6-0, 6-0, dispatched Serbia's Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals and in the semifinals took only 64 minutes to dismiss Sara Errani of Italy 6-2, 6-1 and make it to the US Open women's championship match for the second consecutive year. 

Her opponent in Sunday afternoon's championship match will be a familiar one in Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who is 1-9 all time against her.  Serena blitzed Azarenka in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 during the London Olympic Games singles semifinals to get to the gold medal match.. 

Azarenka is all that's standing between Serena, her fourth US open singles title and her first since 2008. I'm popping the popcorn and preparing to watch tomorrow night later what should be a fun final for me, but not Serena's haters.  

But they still have to play it.

TransGriot Update: Due to the severe New York area weather the match was postponed to Sunday afternoon.

 
 

2012 Williams Watch-US Open Recap

The last time I composed one of these Williams sisters watch posts my fave tennis playing siblings were collecting their London Games gold medals after repeating as the Olympics tennis doubles champions and Serena had taken the gold in singles in dominating fashion at 'Williams'-don.

Now we're at Flushing Meadows and ironically I left New York the day the 2012 US  Open was starting, which bummed the tennis fan in me out for a moment until that deluge hit..

So to catch you peeps up on what's happening, Serena was seeded fourth while Venus was unseeded.  And bad news to all the women's doubles competitors, they are entered in this doubles tournament and unseeded.

Big Sis opened up her US Open's singles tourney play with a straight set 6-3, 6-1 win over fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands but was knocked out in the second round in a three set 2-6,7-5, 5-7 battle with Germany's Angelique Kerber.

Meanwhile 4th seeded Little Sis was handling her US Open business by blitzing American Coco Wandeweghe 6-1,6-1 in her opening match, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 6-2, 6-4 in the second round, and Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-4, 6-0 in the third round to set up her fourth round clash with Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic.

Little Sis hasn't dropped a set yet and should she handle her fourth round business it'll set up a quarterfinal match between her and the winner of the Pironkova-Ivanovic match.   Angelique Kerber is still alive on her side of the bracket along with 2012 Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska.

In the US Open doubles tourney, the Williams sisters started with a first round 6-4, 6-0 win over Americans Lindsay Lee-Waters and Megan Moulton-Levy.   In the second round they won by an identical 6-4, 6-0 score over the team of Klaudia Jans-Ignacik of Poland and Kristina Mladenovic of France to set up a third round doubles clash with the Russian duo of Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova 


So stay tuned, will Serena continue her march to her third US open singles title?  Will she and Big Sis add another Grand Slam doubles title to their collection?  We'll know the answers to those questions by the end of the week.

 

2012 Williams Watch- Serena's In The Semis

The 'Williams'-don Ladies Singles tournament is rapidly heading to its conclusion this weekend and my favorite tennis playing sibling is still in the mix for her fifth title and 14th career Grand Slam one.

Her quarterfinal opponent wasn't going to be an easy one.  Sixth seeded Little Sis was facing fourth seeded and defending Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in a matchup of the last two ladies singles champions.

And per Serena's pattern in this 2012 tournament, she got off to another first set fast start by winning it in 30 minutes but ending up in a second set battle that took 54 minutes to finish.  

She trailed Kvitova 5-4 in that second set and had to save a set point to even it at 5 all, then broke Kvitova in the next game to take a 6-5 lead, then closed out the match with three of her 13 aces and a service winner to for the 6-3, 7-5 straight set victory to punch her ticket to the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time since she won her fourth title in 2010. 

Ironically on her way to that 2010 title she knocked off Kvitova in the Wimbledon quarterfinals and let's hope it has the same result.   Her semifinal opponent will be second seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus

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2012 Williams Watch-Serena To 'Williams'-don Quarterfinals

If she's going to win her first Grand Slam title in two years, this may be her big opportunity to get it despite her father's concerns she's expending too much energy in the last two rounds. . 

The draw is setting up perfectly for Serena Williams as many of the big names like Maria Sharapova, Kim Clijsters, Li Na and Sam Stosur have already fallen victim to the upset bug  

Sixth seeded Serena survived an upset bid by China's Jie Zheng thanks to unleashing a Wimbledon record 23 aces onslaught to advance in a 2 hour and 28 minute three set marathon match and entered the fourth round of the 2012 Wimbledon Ladies Singles tournament against Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova

It took her three sets on Court 2, but she survived 6-1, 2-6, 7-5 to advance to the quarterfinals  .   

Once again Little Sis got off to a blazing start as she took only 26 minutes to complete the first set.   But in Shvedova she was facing a tall player that can hit just as hard as she could and she sent that message in the second set that took 34 minutes to play and even the match.   

Serena fought back in the closely contested deciding set that took 54 minutes to play and earned Little Sis a quarterfinal Centre Court matchup with defending Wimbledon champion and fourth seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.

Should be fun to watch at 9 AM CDT.  

2012 Williams Watch-Serena Survives Upset Bid

There were probably more than a few people around the world who presumed that Serena Williams would breeze by her third round opponent Jie Zheng of China when they stepped onto Centre Court to play their match. 

But Zheng had other ideas about that.  Zheng only made 17 unforced errors in the entire match and got an early Christmas present in the first set tie breaker when every point she scored in it was courtesy of Serena's errors. 

Two hours and 28 minutes later it took Little Sis hitting a Wimbledon record 23 aces, not dropping a service game in the entire match and every ounce of determination, experience and skill she could muster to outlast Zheng in a 6-7 (5-7) 6-2, 9-7 marathon match to get herself to the fourth round of the ladies single tournament at Wimbledon.

Serena can exhale for a moment and prepare herself for her fourth round opponent, Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan

2012 Williams Watch-Serena To Third Round

Sixth seeded Serena got the first week of The Championships off to a good start when she knocked off Barbora Zahlvalova Strycova off in straight sets 6-2, 6-4.

She earned a second round Centre Court match with Hungary's Melinda Czink and wasted little time or energy in expeditiously getting herself to the third round with a 6-1, 6-4.straight set victory.

Little Sis breezed through the first set with Czink in 20 minutes but took 41 minutes in the second set to close out this match and move on to another Centre Court date against China's Jie Zheng

Serena seems as though she's been on a mission and is determined to get that fifth Wimbledon singles title after that inexplicable stumble in Paris last month, but it's only the first week.

2012 Williams Watch-'Willliams'-don First Round Mixed Results

'The Championships' is what they call this tennis Grand Slam tournament on the other side of The Pond, and I call it 'Williams-don' for the way that my fave tennis playing siblings have dominated it.

Wimbledon started Monday with five time Wimbledon champion Big Sis playing a first round match against 79th ranked Russian Elena Vesnina.   Venus hadn't lost a match in the first round in any Grand Slam tournament in six and a half years or at the All-England Club since her debut season in 1997, but she fell to Vesnina 1-6, 2-6 as the 32 year old continues her recovery from Sjogren's Syndrome.

"I am a great player. Unfortunately, I had to deal with circumstances that people don't normally have to deal with in this sport. But I can't be discouraged by that. .. There's no way I'm just going to sit down and give up just because I have a hard time the first five or six freakin' tournaments back."

Venus did  make the Olympic team and plans to be back for the London Games tournament that will be played at the All England Club.  
Meanwhile sixth seeded Little Sis' first round got off to a better start after her shocking first round upset loss at the French Open last month. 

Serena kicked off her quest for her 4th 'Williams'don title and her first major title in two years by dispatching the Czech Republic's Barbora Zahlavova Strycova  6-2, 6-4 in a match that took her only 1 hour and 20 minutes to play with the first set taking only 29 minutes. 

Serena faces Hungary's Melinda Czink in the second round..