2016 Williams Watch-Time For The French Open

We are still in the month of May, and that means it's time for the second Grand Slam tournament on the professional tennis calendar.  It's the 2016 French Open, and the clay courts of Paris' Roland Garros await as the tournament is scheduled to run from May 22-June 5

The big story as usual is world number one Serena Williams and her attempt to win her 22nd Grand Slam title.  Little Sis has unfortunately been upset in her last two attempts to get that title, falling in the 2015 US Open semis and in this year's Australian Open title match.

So you know the defending French Open champ is ready and eager to get this milestone done and over with Williams-don and the Rio Olympics looming.

She's seeded number one in this 115th edition of the French Open, and Serena kicks off her title defense with a first round match against Serbia's Magdalena Rybarikova.   should she handle her tennis playing business she gets the winner of the Teliana Pereira- Kristyna Pliskova match.

Venus Williams is also in this tournament, and she's seeded number 9.  She faces off in the first round against Estonia's Anett Kontaveit.   Should Big Sis win this opening round match, she'll face the winner of an all-American first round battle between Louisa Chirico and Lauren Davis.

Unfortunately the Williams sisters are in the same half of the draw, and would potentially meet in the semis should both sisters go on extended runs during their time at Roland Garros.

Here's hoping my fave tennis playing siblings have a successful business trip to Paris, and Serena finally gets her 22nd Grand Slam title to tie her with Steffi Graf and add another Coupe Suzanne Lenglen to her trophy case..

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..

2016 Williams Watch - Going For Number 22

In a few hours we'll find out if Serena Williams will earn her seventh Australian Open title and 22nd Grand Slam title win in her illustrious career.

That Aussie Open women's final will start at 2 AM CST.

She punched her ticket to this Australian Open final by taking out fourth seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland for the ninth time in straight sets 6-0, 6-4.   She not only bumped her record against Radwanska to a spotless 9-0. she continued her impressive march through this Aussie Open women's field.

For the first time in her career, she has made it to an Australian Open final without dropping a set along the way.

Serena's reward or doing so will be to face Germany's Angelique Kerber, the 28 year old lefthander who idolized Steffi Graf growing up, and who will be standing in the way of Serena trying to tie her idol for Grand Slam title wins.  Kerber is also the first German player in 20 years to reach a Grand Slam final since you know who.

The seventh seeded Kerber knocked off #14 seeded Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 7-5 in the quarters and surprise semifinalist Johanna Konta 7-5. 6-2 in straight sets to get to her first ever Grand Slam final, and says she relishes the challenge of taking on the world's number one player.

We'll see if she feels the same way in a few hours.  Go get her Serena!

2016 Williams Watch- Serena To The Australian Open Semis!

The 2016 Australian Open keeps rolling to its conclusion, and Serena Williams is still on track to claim her seventh Australian Open title, her 22nd Grad Slam title to tie Steffi Graf overall, and start a run at a Golden Slam.

But standing in the way in the quarterfinal round was a woman she'd beaten 17 straight times in fifth seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia.   The last time she'd lost to Sharapova was in 2004, and since then it's been all Serena all the time

This one started out with Serena getting off to a slow start and dropping her initial service game to get into an 0-2 hole and get her haters around the wold salivating.  But she eventually got it to 4-4 and after a tense four deuce game held to take the lead and eventually break Sharapova to take the first set.  

Serena then kicked it into A+ level and rolled to a 4-0 lead before Sharapova broke the five game un by holding serve.  But Serena once again held her serve and broke Sharapova to win the match in straight sets 6-4, 6-1.   It was the 18th straight win for Little Sis and the seventh straight time in their non rivalry she'd beaten Sharapova in straight sets.

Next up in the semis for Serena is fourth seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland who sent #10 seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain to the sidelines in straight sets 6-1, 6-3.

If she handles her semifinal business, these are the potential opponents who could be standing between her and her seventh Australian Open title.

That half of the quarterfinal bracket has #14 seeded Victoria Azarenka facing off against #7 seeded German Angelique Kerber, and giant killers Johanna Konta of Great Britain and qualifier Zhang Shuhai of China in the other quarterfinal.

The winners will face off in the semis to determine who that finalist will be.

TransGriot Update: The other semi will be Angelique Kerber and Johanna Konta.

2016 Williams Watch-Serena's Headed To The Quarters!

While I was in Chicago dealing with a drama filled Creating Change conference, I was comforted in the fact that Serena Williams was kicking butt and taking names on her way to hopefully her seventh Australian Open title and 22nd Grand Slam title overall.

In her Australian Open third round match she played during the January 22 night session at Rod Laver Arena, she made quick 6-1, 6-1 straight set work of Russia's Daria Kasatkina.

Two days later on that Rod Laver Arena court she only took 55 minutes to efficiently send another Russian to the sidelines in Margarita Gasparyan.    Little Sis beat her in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 to set up a quarterfinal match with an opponent she hasn't lost to since the 2004 Wimbledon finals in Maria Sharapova.

Maria may be tired of hearing about it, but facts are facts.  You've lost 17 straight matches to the greatest tennis player of all time, and until you beat her, you'll get repeatedly reminded of it.

Should Serena handle her tennis business and make it 18 straight against Sharapova, she would face the winner of the Agnieszka Radwanska - Carla Suarez Navarro match in the Australian Open semifinals.

2016 Williams Watch- Good And Bad News From Melbourne

My fave tennis playing siblings are once again starting the New Year Down Under at the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2016 tennis season in the Australian Open.

And after the first round matches were completed in Melbourne, there's some good news and bad news to report.

First the bad news.  There were 12 players in the women's singles bracket that went down in first round upsets.  Number 2 seed Simona Halep, #16 seed Caroline Wozniacki, #17 Sara Errani, #22 Andrea Petkovic, #24 Sloane Stephens and #25 Samantha Stosur were some of the folks who went down in the first round.   #23 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova went bye bye in the second round.

Joining that list of one round and done players was Venus Williams.   8th seeded Big Sis is surprisingly done for this tournament after she was upset by Johanna Konta of Great Britain in straight sets 4-6, 2-6.   Venus has a great 2015 in which she reached the quarterfinals at last year's Australian Open and Wimbledon, and the third round of the US Open but had a bad day at the office at the worst possible time.  

Nothing in her game was working, including her usually lethal serve which was broken by Konta five times.  She was moved around the court easily in a loss that was considered a shock to tennis pundits

But she's out of the 2016 Aussie Open in the first round

Meanwhile on that same Rod Laver Arena court, Serena began the quest for her seventh Australian Open title by knocking off Camila Giorgi of Italy in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 to punch her ticket to the second round where she faced Hsieh Sui-Wei of Taiwan.

She took an hour to cruise to a 6-1, 6-2 straight set victory and move on to her third round match with Russia's Daria Kasatkina .

Going to be an interesting week Down Under, especially on the women's side.

2016 Williams Watch- It's Time For The Australian Open

The first Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season is the Australian Open, and the 2016 edition of it will kick off in Melbourne later tonight (Monday Melbourne time) and run until January 30.  

All eyes as usual will be on defending women's singles champ Serena Williams after her bid for a Grand Slam came up just short after being upset in the US Open semis.  She's had four months to rest from it, but there is some concern after she withdrew from the Hopman Cup warmup tournament with a knee injury.

She says she's ready to play, and she'll need to be from the opening round.  Her draw for this tournament has the world and Australian Open's number one seeded player on a potential collision course with Caroline Wozniacki (16), Belinda Bencic (12), Agnieszka Radwanska (4) and Australia Open finalist Maria Sharapova (5) in her half of the women's singles bracket.

Serena starts her bid for her 22nd Grand Slam title and seventh Australian Open title with her opening round match with Italy's Camila Giorgi, who is ranked number 35 in the world..

Well, at least they don't have Venus on the same side of the bracket with her little sister this time.

Big Sis came on strong at the end of the season and finished ranked in the top ten.  She starts 2016 with her highest seeding in a Grand Slam tournament since 2011.

Venus is seeded number 8 in this Australian Open tournament, and kicks off her quest for her first Australian Open title since 2003 with an opening round match against Johanna Konta of Great Britain.

This tournament will be interesting for both sisters, and we'll see if this is the first step to a Golden Slam for Serena or Venus executes another deep run that ends up with her clashing with her sister in a Grand Slam final.
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2015 Williams Watch-Four Sets To History!

The US Open women's semifinals that were supposed to be played yesterday got rained out, so they were rescheduled for today and will be set up as a single daytime session.

It will start at 10 AM CDT with the match between number two seeded Simona Halep of Romania and one of the two Italian women left in the draw in Flavia Pannetta.

They are playing for their first trip to the US Open final.

Immediately following that match will be the highly anticipated one between the tournament number one seed Serena Williams and Italy's Roberta Vinci.  As you TransGriot readers know, Little Sis is just four sets and two match wins away from completing the first calendar year Grand Slam since 1988 and capturing her 22nd career grand slam title.

Serena is 4-0 against Vinci, but as NFL analyst Herman Edwards has famously said, "That's why you play the games."  But you have to believe that based on her performance against Big Sis Wednesday night, if Serena is playing at her  A++ level, they may as well start engraving the trophy with her name on it now.

We'll see in a few hours how this shakes out.

2015 Williams Watch-Serena To The Semis!

For the 14th time in a Grand Slam tournament, the first time at the US Open since 2008, and the 27th time in their careers   But this prime time quarterfinal match had high stakes with a semifinal berth on the line.

Serena's pursuit of her fourth consecutive US Open singles title and the first calendar year Grand Slam since 1988 was on the line,  Venus was working on trying to win her third US Open title and her first since 2001 when she beat Little Sis in the final to get it.

The match started with both sisters hitting hard, hitting winners and staying on serve until Serena gets the break she needed to go up 4-3 and close out the first set in 33 minutes.

Then it was Big Sis's turn to up her game as Serena suffered through a stretch of bad play that allowed Venus to close out the second set and even the match.

Then Serena as she has done all season reset, kicked her game up to A++ level and quickly reeled off three straight wins to seize control of the decisive third set and close out this emotional win with her 12th ace of the match to punch her ticket to the semifinals.

6-2, 1-6, 6-3  Five match wins down, two to go.

Her semifinal victim opponent will be Italy's Roberta Vinci who has been on the short end of her matches with Serena, having lost to her four times/

Don't think Thursday will be any different, but that's why you play the game..

TransGriot Update:  The Thursday women's semifinal matches got rained out, so they were rescheduled for Friday.

2015 Williams Watch- Which Sister Made It To The US Open Quarterfinals?

Today Venus and Serena were on the Arthur Ashe Stadium courts playing their fourth round US Open matches with quarterfinal berths at stake.

Which sister made it to the quarterfinals?   Both of them.

23rd seeded Venus got this Sunday afternoon of tennis at Arthur Ashe Stadium off to a great start with a dominating performance against Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit, who was playing in her first US Open and got to the fourth round after beating Madison Brengle in three sets

Big Sis took only 50 minutes to efficiently punch her ticket to the quarters with a 6-2, 6-1 straight set victory over Kontaveit and set up her first trip to the US Open quarters since 2010.

The question then became who would Venus play in that quarterfinal?

Serena took the Arthur Ashe court moments later for what was expected to be by tennis pundits the tougher match of the afternoon against 19th seeded Madison Keys.  

Serena faced and beat Keys earlier this year in the Australian Open semifinals, and wasn't playing with the tennis youngling.   Little Sis was on her A++ game from the outset, but the 20 year old Keys was hanging with her booming serve for booming serve and shot for shot as both stayed on serve .

Serena got a critical service break thanks to Keys double faults and unforced errors to put her up 5-3 and allow her to close the first set on her racquet.

The second set was just as close, with both players staying on serve and amazing shots being hit until once again Keys got broken to put Little Sis up 4-3. Serena held serve to push the lead up to 5-3, and when Keys needed to come up with the clutch serve to save match point,  she double faulted to hand little Sis a 6-3, 6-3 straight set victory that took only 68 minutes to complete.

Four down, only three more match wins to tennis history    But that next match will be against her big sister.

At 7 PM EDT on Tuesday night, we should have a sold out Arthur Ashe Stadium and a huge television audience watching the first US Open quarterfinal between the Williams Sisters at Flushing Meadow since 2008 with huge stakes for both sisters.

Venus is playing for her third US Open title, Serena for the first calendar year Grand Slam since 1998.  Which sister will prevail?.


 

2015 Williams Watch-On To The US Open Third Round

The world is watching the US Open to see if Serena Williams can win her fourth straight title and in the process, complete the first calendar year Grand Slam since 1988.  

One of the things we Serena fans know and worry about is that if she's going to get upset, it's going to happen early in the first week.  Once she gets zoned in and gets over her early round nervousness, she's tough to stop.

And in a US Open tournament that has seen ten seeded players exit the tournament in the first round, another in Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova get beat in straight sets in the second round, and Maria Sharapova withdraw before the tournament even started because of a leg injury, Little Sis as the world's number one ranked player and number one tournament seed is a prohibitive favorite to capture this final grand Slam tournament of the season.

Serena's opponent in this second round match at Arthur Ashe Stadium was Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, and in the first set Bertens gave an admittedly nervous Serena a stiff challenge that belied her number 110 world ranking.

Bertens promptly broke Serena's serve, and was serving for the set at 5-4 before Serena came back to force a tiebreaker.  Unfazed, the 23 year old Bertens sprinted to a 4-0 lead in the tiebreaker before Serena showed that heart of a champion once again,  She rallied to tie it at 4-4 with some self destructive help from Bertens, and eventually won  to steal the first set.

After that first set escape in which she had eight double faults, Serena took command of the match when she broke Bertens for a 3-2 lead and closed it out for the 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 straight set win.  

Two match wins down, five to go for the calendar year Grand Slam.

Next up for Serena will be Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who knocked off Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets after she upset Sloane Stephens in the first round.  In case you're wondering what Serena's record is against Mattek-Sands this year:  2-0

Meanwhile, Venus was playing fellow American Irina Falconi under the Arthur Ashe Stadium lights , and it looked like Big Sis was going to romp to victory in straight sets.   But that disturbing tendency of Venus not closing out matches reared its ugly head again.   Up 5-3 and serving for the match, it started going  sideways for Big Sis as Falconi raised her game up another level, and broke Venus' serve twice to force a tiebreaker, then kept her momentum going to take the second set.

The reason for the up and down performance?  35 winners offset by 47 unforced errors for Big Sis. She recorded six aces against five double faults.

Big Sis regrouped, got off to a fast start and rolled to a 4-1 lead before Falconi recovered to close to 4-2.  After holding serve, she broke Falconi one last time to close out the match and get a hard fought 6-3. 6-7 (2-7) 6-2 win and punch her ticket to the third round.        

She will face Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, the 18 year old protege of Martina Hingis who was nearly ousted from the tournament by Misaki Doi of Japan in a drama filled three set match    Venus will attempt to get past the third round of the US Open for the first time since 2010.

But the question is will the oldest player in the tournament field (35), have enough to get past the precocious 12th seeded Bencic, and get one step closer to a possible quarterfinal match with her sister for the second straight Grand Slam tournament?

And will Serena keep rolling to tennis history? 

2015 Williams Watch- On To The US Open Second Round

The first day of the US Open was a successful one for both Serena and Venus Williams as they handled their tennis business and got past their respective opponents to the second round.

number on seeded Serena kicked off the night session at Arthur Ashe Stadium by winning the first eight games of her match with Vitalia Diatchenko before the Russian retired due to injury 30 minutes later.  

6-0, 2-0 was the score at the time of her opponent's retirement, and Little Sis is now six more match wins away from tennis history and her seventh US Open title as she heads to the second round in an unexpected way.

Serena's opponent will be the Netherlands Kiki Bertens   If Serena handles her second round match business she would face the winner of the Bethanie Mattek-Sands - Coco Vandeweghe match.

23rd seeded Venus' day started a little earlier on the Arthur Ashe stadium courts as she faced Monica Puig of Puerto Rico.   She ended up in a three set slugfest with Puig, who fought off four match points to extend the match into a deciding third set before Venus turned it up another notch to get the 6-4, 6-7 (7-9) 6-3 win

Big Sis is trying to capture her third US Open title and her first since she beat Serena in straight sets in 2001 to get it.  Venus will face in the second round Irina Falconi, and should she get past her would face the winner of the Belinda Bencic- Misaki Doi match

It's possible that if both sisters keep winning in their sections of the draw, they would meet in the US Open quarterfinals.

Will be watching my fave tennis playing siblings to see how things progress at Flushing Meadow.

2015 Williams Watch- All Eyes On Serena

The 135th edition of the US Open kicks off today and runs through September 13, and there's something new for this event.   As part of a $500 million renovation,  a roof is being constructed that will cover Arthur Ashe Stadium that is scheduled for completion in time for next year's open.

That's the future along with a planned roof for Louis Armstrong Stadium and a 8000 seat Grandstand Court, so now let's talk about the present and the historic opportunity that presents itself for her.

Serena walks onto the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center grounds in NYC as not only the world's number one ranked player and number one seed in this tournament, but a favorite to take the women's title.  Big Sis Venus is seeded 23rd.

If she does so, it will not only be her fourth straight US Open title, but her fifth straight Grand Slam and as every tennis fan on the planet knows, her first calendar year Grand Slam.  And oh yeah, she would tie Steffi Graf with 22 career Grand Slam tournament titles.

But the road to tennis history starts with this first round match against Vitalia Diatchenko while Venus faces off against Puerto Rico's Monica Puig.

2015 Williams Watch-Serena Slam!

I repeat, how like her now haters?

Serena Williams ended her business trip to London on a successful note as she captured her sixth 'Williams'-don title, her 21st Grand Slam championship overall, and her second Serena Slam with a 6-4, 6-4 straight set victory over Garbine Muguruza of Spain.

But the 21 year old Muguruza, who knocked Serena out of the French Open last year in the second round and was confident she could pull off the upset again, and was determined to not roll over and hand the Venus Rosewater Dish to Little Sis.  

She was planning on making Serena earn the trophy, and she did..  Muguruza broke Serena's serve in the opening game of the first set and built a 4-2 lead before Serena kicked it up another level and won the next five games to take the set and go up 1-0 in the second set.


Williams built a 5-1 lead in the second set before the nerves and magnitude of what she was about to accomplish briefly affected her, and she dropped two service games with a chance to serve for the title as Muguruza fought to stay alive in the match.

Muguruza closed to 5-4 with a chance to serve to knot the set at 5-5.   But Serena would wake up and build a 40-0 lead and watch Muguruza hit a forehand shot wide to get the break and her sixth Wimbledon title.

In addition to winning her fourth straight Gland Slam title since the 2014 US Open, she is now seven wins away from capturing her first calendar year Grand Slam, tying Steffi Graf with 22 Grand Slam title wins and only three Grand Slam title wins from catching Margaret Court. 

The queue for the strawberries and cream flavored Haterade forms to the left.  

See y'all in New York next month for what may shape up to be a historic US Open.

2015 Williams Watch- Playing For The Serena Slam!

It's the 'Williams'-don semifinals, and Serena Williams was going for her 8th Wimbledon ladies final appearance against a foe in Maria Sharapova who hasn't beaten her since 2004.

And she wouldn't do it today either.

Williams and Sharapova were meeting for the 20th time, and Serena has owned her with a 17-2 record in their head to head meetings.

Make that 18-2.    Serena beat her for the 17th straight time since that shocking 2004 straight set Wimbledon finals loss,.  Little Sis was on her A+ game and made quick (1:19)  6-2. 6-4  straight set work of Sharapova to get to her 8th Wimbledon final, the 25th Grand Slam final of her career and win her 26th straight Grand Slam match.

The win over Sharapova keeps her quest alive for a Serena Slam.  This will be if she wins Saturday  in addition to her sixth Wimbledon ladies singles title, her fourth straight Grand Slam title since she captured the 2014 US Open.   With a win Saturday at Centre Court Serena will also set up a chance to accomplish a calendar year Grand Slam at the US Open and tie Steffi Graf with 22 Grand Slam wins.

How you like her now haters?  Here's some strawberries and cream flavored Haterade for you to drink. Hater tots will be coming soon for you to munch on.

She will face 21 year old Garbine Muguruza of Spain, who knocked off 2012 Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2.3-6, 6-3 to become the first Spanish woman since Arantxa Sanchez Vicario did so in 1996 to advance to the Wimbledon final.

And you can bet Serena won't be sleeping on Muguruza.   If that name sounds familiar to you, it was none other than Muguruza who upset Serena in the second round of the French Open last year.

While Muguruza is capable of doing it, she'll probably get a Serena who is on her A+ game,  remembers what happened last year. at Roland Garros and is ready to atone for it..  

But unfortunately for Muguruza, this ain't Roland Garros, it's the All-England Club, the Williams sisters personal tennis playground.

Should be fun to watch this tennis history unfold for the greatest tennis player of all time as she attempts to win her sixth 'Williams'-don ladies singles title and another Venus Rosewater Dish for her trophy collection.  

I also love the fact she's on the verge of doing so 40 years after Arthur Ashe won his Wimbledon title.

2015 Williams Watch-Only One Can Go To The Quarterfinals...

Because the geniuses at the All England Club had Serena and Venus on the same side of the draw, they met for the 26th time and the first time in six years at this Grand Slam event that has been their personal playground.

At 'Williams'-don, Serena and Venus have won a combined 10 singles titles (and counting), five doubles crowns. one mixed doubles title, and oh yeah, the 2012 London Olympic singles and doubles gold medals.

But this time they were playing for high stakes at Centre Court.  In addition to both seeking their sixth Wimbledon crowns and a spot in the quarterfinals, Serena was playing to keep her Serena Slam alive and her pursuit of a calendar year Grand Slam going as well. 

While Venus had a 6-3, 6-2 straight set victory over Aleksandra Krunic to get to this fourth round showdown with her number one seeded little sister, Serena had to battle all of the Centre Court crowd and Great Britain's Heather Wilson to get there.  It took three sets in which there were some testy moments, but she prevailed 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 to get to the match with Big Sis.

While Big Sis put up a fight, Little Sis is just too good and rolled to a 6-4, 6-3 straight set win.

But the fun is just getting started for Serena.   Waiting for her in the quarters is Victoria Azarenka, and should she get past her, a potential semifinal matchup with Maria Sharapova is on the horizon should she survive her quarterfinal match with American Coco Vandeweghe.

If she gets past them, she will have earned that spot in the final versus potential opponents from the  other side of the quarterfinal bracket like Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska or Madison Keys who square off in one quarterfinal match.   The survivor would get the Garbine Muguruza-Timea Bacsinszky winner.

We'll see if Little Sis can survive and advance to Saturday, and I'm rooting for her to do so.

2015 Williams Watch-On To The Third Round

My fave tennis playing sisters are still cruising toward a Wimbledon quarterfinal clash if the brackets hold up.

Okay, what genius at the All England Club set up the brackets so they were on the same side of the Wimbledon ladies singles draw anyway?

One of the other interesting pieces of Williams Sisters related news coming out of The Championships this week was the withdrawal of Venus and Serena from the doubles tournament so they could concentrate on playing singles.


In their second round matches, Serena got past Timea Babos of Hungary in straight sets 6-4, 6-1 to set up her third round clash with British homegirl Heather Watson.

Venus had to work a little harder, but she also prevailed in straight sets 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 in her match against Yulia Putintseva.    She gets the Czech Republic`s Aleksandra Krunic, fresh off of springing an upset on Sara Errani.

Can they survive their third round matches and treat the tennis world to a Little Sis-Big Sis fourth round matchup at Wimbledon and the first in six years?   We`ll see.

2015 Williams Watch-On To Wimbledon`s Second Round

My fave tennis playing siblings got off to a great start on the opening day of `Williams`-don. 

Shouldn't be a surprise because the All England Club has been their personal playground throughout their careers, and yesterday was a welcome sign to those of us who love Venus and Serena Williams that their dominance at that hallowed tennis venue would continue.

Sixteenth seeded Venus got off to a wonderful start in this 2015 edition of Wimbledon with a 6-0, 6-0 straight set victory over fellow American Madison Brengle to punch her ticket to the second round.

World number one ranked and top seed Serena also won her opening match in straight sets over Russia`s Margarita Gasparayan 6-4, 6-1 to get her quest for her first Wimbledon title since 2012 off to a satisfying start.

If Serena continues through to claim the Venus Rosewater Dish, it would be her sixth 'Williams'-don crown, her third straight Grand Slam title this year and fourth consecutive one since winning the 2014 US Open.  It would also put her in position to win a calendar year Grand Slam.

But there`s still two weeks of tennis to play before we get to that point.

2015 Williams Watch- Welcome To 'Williams'-don

It's the start of the third Grand Slam of the 2015 tennis season in London, known to the world as The Championships, but what I call on these electronic pages 'Williams'-don.

It will run from today until July 12, and the start of it was delayed a week to give players time to adjust to grass from the clay surfaces of Roland Garros.

The All England Club has been such a personal playground for both Venus and Serena they have won a combined ten Ladies Singles titles, five Ladies doubles titles and the 2012 London Games singles and doubles gold medals on those hallowed grass surface courts that seem to be tailor made for their power tennis games.

But the last time world number one Serena took the Venus Rosewater Dish home was in 2012, and Venus' last win was in 2008.  

You can bet both sisters wish to change that dynamic.  Serena lost last year in a third round three set   upset loss to Aliza Cornet, and in 2013 lost a three set battle in the fourth round to runner up Sabine Lisicki.

Venus is hoping that she can get back to playing the consistent tennis she needs to play to make a deep run in a Grand final again.

We will find out as the Wimbledon fortnight progresses.

2015 Williams Watch-Number 20 And Counting!

Serena Williams run to this third French Open title was a bumpy one at times.   She had several three set matches in which she dropped the first set against formidable opponents like Victoria Azarenka and Sloane Stephens but roared back to win.   She battled the flu in her semifinal round match with Timea Bacsisczky but came back to win in three sets.

She was so ill that she couldn't even train yesterday, but there she was on Court Philippe Chatrier for the 2015 French Open final against the Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova.

It started in dominating fashion with Serena taking the first set 6-3.   She was cruising at 4-1 in the second set and serving for a 5-1 lead when in her words in the post match interview 'she choked'.

Williams stopped playing her A++ game as Lucie Safarova seized the early Christmas gift to get back into the set and win it in a tiebreaker. 6-7 (2-7) to even the match.

A pissed off Serena, upset that she blew her opportunity to close it out in straight sets, fell into an 0-2 hole in the third set before she kicked up her game another level that Safarova tried to match but couldn't.   Williams won the next six games to take the match 6-2 and hold the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen for the third time.

It was Serena's 20th Grand Slam title, tying her with Steffi Graf, her third straight Grand Slam win since the 2014 US Open, her third French Open title and first since 2013.

And how apropos at the conclusion of this successful business trip to Paris, she's hoisting the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen on D-Day..

And oh yeah,Serena haters. she's halfway to a calendar year Grand Slam.    The next Grand Slam is across the Channel at the All England Lawn Tennis And Croquet Club starting June 29, which has been her and Big Sis' personal playground throughout her career..

See y'all at 'Williams'-don..