2019 Williams Watch- It's US Open Time!

The last major Grand Slam tournament of the 2019 tennis season happens in New York, and it's one that Serena Williams will probably be highly motivated to take after the controversial way it ended last year for her.

Serena started this tournament seeded eighth and for once on the opposite side of the women's singles tourney bracket from Venus.

Big Sis started out with an opening round 6-1, 6-0 straight set win over China's Zheng Saisai.   Her time at Flushing Meadows ended when Elina Svitolina sent her out of the second round with a 4-6, 4-6 straight set loss

Little Sis started her 2019 US Open experience with a opening round match with her rival in her own mind Maria Sharapova Sharadopa.  Serena spanked that azz for the 19th consecutive meeting in a 6-1 6-1 straight set romp that took Williams less than one hour to accomplish.

Rivalry?  What rivalry?

Serena then had to do three sets of work in the second round against fellow American Caty McNally.

The wild card qualifier McNally captured the first set 7-5.  Little Sis stepped her game up another level to take the next two sets and punch her ticket to the third round with a hard fought 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 win

Serena then took out Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 to get to the fourth round and a match with Serbia's Petra Martic. 

Little Sis once again handled her tennis business, nothing another straight set 6-3, 6-4 win to push her into the US Open quarterfinals against 18th seeded China's Wang Qiang.

If she gets past this quarterfinal match, she would face the winner of the Elina Svitolina- Johanna Konta match in the semis with a spot in the US Open finals on the line.

2018 Williams Watch- Serena To The US Open Sems!

17th seeded (what a travesty) Serena Williams is still on track in her quest to win her record seventh US Open singles title and her 24th career Grand Slam.

When I last checked in on my fave tennis playing siblings latest trip to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, they were about to play each other for the 30th time in the US Open third round.

It was not a great day for Venus at Ashe Stadium as Serena was at A++ level tennis that entire match.  She cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 straight set victory over her older sister to punch her ticket to a fourth round matchup with Estonia's Kaia Kanepi.

Kanepi had taken out world number one (for now) and tournament number one seed Simona Halep and up until this point was having a wonderful tournament.   However, Kanepi had not only never beaten Serena, she'd never won a set against her. 

Early in that fourth round match it looked like it was going to play out the same way as Serena was continuing her A++ level of play from her demolition of Big Sis and won the first set in a lightning quick 18 minutes. 

But after dropping a second set service game, Serena came off that A++ tennis game and Kanepi raised her level of play to take the second set and surprisingly even the match to the chagrin of Serena fans in Arthur Ashe Stadium, me and everywhere else on the planet

Serena cranked it up to A+ level in the third set and sent Kanepi packing after a three set 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 win to move on to a quarterfinal matchup with the eighth seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.

Pliskova was having a nice tournament run herself, and had Serena down 4-2 in the first set.  But Little Sis dug deep, raised that level of play and came back to win that first set and eventually the match in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 to make it to herr ninth consecutive US Open semifinal.

She will face in that semifinal nineteenth seeded Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova.   She took down seventh seeded Elina Svitolina in three sets 6-3, 1-6, 6-0 and third seeded defending champ Sloane Stephens in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 to make it to the semis and face Williams, who is the lone remaining Grand Slam champion in this 2018 women's US Open field.

A Grand Slam champion that wants to add another US Open title to her list and win her first Slam since giving birth to her daughter Olympia a year ago. 

Heaven help you if Serena starts playing that A++ level we saw against Venus and the first set of the Kanepi match.

2018 Williams Watch- Another Sister-Sister Battle Looms

The 2018 US Open second round played out as expected with Serena and Venus both cruising to a third round showdown after vanquishing their second round opponents

And I repeat, US Open, why didn't y'all put them on separate sides of the draw so that we could have seen this clash in the quarters, semis or even the US Open final?

Serena took a little over an hour in a primetime match at Arthur Ashe Stadium to beat Germany's Carina Witthoeft  6-2, 6-2 and punch her ticked the third round for the 18th time. 

Meanwhile earlier in the day, Venus knocked off Italy's Camila Giorgi in straight sets to set up their 30th time playing each other, 16th in a Grand Slam, and their first in a Grans Slam tournament since the 2017 Australian Open final.

Venus joked that the last time they played it was unfair because she was playing 'two against one', referring to Serena being 24 weeks pregnant with Aunt Venus' niece Olympia at the time and still capturing the 2017 Aussie Open title.

The latest Williams Sister match up will be on Friday for a spot in the fourth round versus the winner of the Kaia Kanepi - Rebecca Peterson match.

FYI, Serena leads the all time series 17-12, and in Grand Slam tournaments 9-6.

2018 Williams Watch- It's US Open Time!

The last Grand Slam tournament of the 2018 international tennis season is upon us as the city of New York welcomes the tennis world to the US Open until September 9.

The new Louis Armstrong stadium will be open for this tournament, and like Arthur Ashe Stadium, has a retractable roof    As y'all know, both my fave tennis playing siblings are involved in the Open/   Venus is seeded 16th and Serena right behind her, seeded at number 17.

Sloane Stephens is the defending champion, and Serena is once again not only seeking to win her 24th Grand Slam title, she is seeking to capture her record seventh title at Flushing Meadow. 

Venus is trying to win her third and her first US Open singles title since 2001.

I'm irritated by the fact they have Serena and Venus placed in the same section of the draw, which means that they could potentially face each other in the third round,

One person neither one of them will play in this 2018 US Open is world number one ranked and number one tournament seed Simona Halep, who got knocked out by Estonia's Kaia Kanepi in straight sets.

Venus will begin her US Open campaign against wild card qualifier Svetlana Kuznetsova.   Should she prevail, she would face Italy's Camila Giorgi in the second round.

Serena starts her quest for US Open title number seven against Magda Linette of Poland.  She she handle her tennis business, she would ten take on in the second round he winner of the Caroline Dolehide-Carina Witthoeft match.

TransGriot Update:  Venus won 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in her first round match.  Serena did the same easily in straight sets 6-4, 6-0.

2017 Williams Watch- Aunt Venus Is In The US Open Semis!

Venus Williams became an aunt on September 1 when Little Sis gave birth to a 6 pound 13 oz girl who is probably ranked in the Top 100 of the ATP women's tennis ranks.

And yeah, rest of women's tennis tour, she and her child will be at the 2018 Australian Open

Meanwhile Aunt Venus is upholding the Williams family name at Flushing Meadow and now playing a second week of tennis at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

After 9th seeded Big Sis dispatched Maria Sakkari of Greece in straight sets 6-3, 6-1, she faced a tougher task in the fourth round as she took on Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.  It took her three sets, but she survived and advanced to the quarterfinals by a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 count.

That  win earned her a quarterfinal matchup with the Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova, who was fresh off upsetting 2017 Wimbledon champ Garbine Muguruza in straight sets.

This was another three set battle for Venus. and that third set was decided in a tiebreaker.  It went Big Sis' way 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2) to punch her ticket to her third Grand Slam semifinal this season.

Her opponent will be fellow American Sloane Stephens, who also survived a three set match that was decided on a third set tie breaker against Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova.

Can Aunt Venus make it to her third Grand Slam final and her first US Open final since 2002?

And more importantly, can she finally break through and win a Grand Slam title this year?  

Sure hope so.      

2017 Williams Watch- The US Open's Starting!

While I was busy dealing with Hurricane.TS Harvey dropping way too much rain on my hometown, the 137th annual US Open kicked off at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow, NY on August 28.

It's the last Grand Slam of the 2017 tennis season and the last one a pregnant Serena Williams will miss since she's due to give birth to her first child in September.  In bad news for the rest of the women's tennis tour and good news for all who love her, she's planning to return to the tennis tour in January 2018 for the Australian Open.

It's also the first Grand Slam tournament that Maria Sharapova is able to play in since coming off her suspension after the 2016 Australian Open for violation of the anti-doping policy.

One of the favorites in this year's US Open to no one's surprise is Venus Williams.  She's appeared in the Australian and Wimbledon finals this year and if she makes it to and wins the US Open, she will reclaim the world number one ranking for the first time since July 2002

The door has been opened for Big Sis to reclaim the number one ranking thanks to 2016 defending US Open champ Angelique Kerber getting upset in the first round in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 by Japan's Naomi Osaka along with Simona Halep's loss to Sharapova.

The sixth seeded Kerber wasn't the only big name that fell in the US Open women's tournament's first round.  Number 7 seeded Johanna Konta, number 2 seed Simona Halep, number 14 seeded Kristina Mladenovic, number 19 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 21st seeded Ana Konjuh, 24th seeded Kiki Bertens, 26 seeded Anett Kontaveit, 28 seeded Lesia Tsurenko and 32 seeded Lauren Davis all fell in the opening round

Meanwhile, ninth seeded Big Sis is handling her tennis business so far   It took her three sets, but survived her opening round match against Slovakia's Viktoria Kuzmova 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 to move on to the second round against Oceane Dodin of France.

Venus beat Dodin in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 to advance to her third round match against Greece's Maria Sakkari.  

The winner of this match will face in the fourth round the winner of the clash between Ekaterina Makarova and Carla Suarez Navarro.

Will Venus finally claim a Grand Slam title this year?   We'll just have to wait and see.  

2016 Williams Watch- Moving Towards A US Open Semifinals Clash?

Sadly, no.   My fave tennis playing siblings are in this year's 2016 edition of the US Open, and were until yesterday on track to meet in the semifinals.

Serena hasn't dropped a set yet on her way to the quarterfinals.   She beat Russia's Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, then took down fellow American Vania King by the same 6-3, 6-3 straight set score in the second round.

In the third round it took Little Sis exactly one hour to blitz Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-2, 6-1 to set up her fourth round match with Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, who also bowed down to the Queen of Tennis in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 to punch her ticket to the quarterfinals.

Serena with the Monday win over Shvedova, also became the winningest player of any gender in Grand Slam tennis history with her 308th match win in Grand Slam play, passing Martina Navratilova (306) and Roger Federer (307).

She will face number 5 seeded Simona Halep of Romania, and should she get past Halep, would face the winner of the Ana Konjuh-Karolina Pliskova match in the semis.

Big Sis was a third set tiebreaker match point away from joining Serena in the US Open quarters, but alas it didn't work out for her.

Venus started her 2016 US open by beating Ukraine's Kateryna Kozlova 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, then beat Germany's Julia Gorges in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 in the second round.

Venus then got past Germany's Laura Siegemund 6-2, 6-1 in the third round before running into Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the fourth round and falling in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 (3-7).

So we won't see another Williams Sisters Grand Slam clash, but i'd rather have those happen in a Grand Slam final anyway.

 

2016 Williams Watch- US Open Starts Today

After a surprising exit in the Rio Olympic singles and doubles tournament, Serena Williams enters New York and this edition of the 2016 US Open with an eye toward winning the title that she shockingly lost last year in the semifinals just shy of a calendar year Grand Slam.

It's the last tennis Grand Slam tourney of the year, and she's still not happy about the one that got away.   So look out all you peeps playing against her starting today and over the next two weeks,

Serena's still ranked number one in the world, is the number one seed in this edition of the US Open and number one in our hearts.   She and Venus step on the Flushing Meadows grounds of a USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center that has undergone some major changes,

This will be the first open in which Arthur Ashe Stadium as part of the $550 million dollar renovation to the USTA National Tennis Center will have a retractable roof to cover the main stadium court like the Aussie Open and Wimbledon have had for years over their main Grand Slam tournament venues.  Louis Armstrong Stadium will also have a roof enclosing it once it is reconstructed and its current 10,200 seating capacity is increased to 15,000 by the 2018 Open.

Unlike the Australian Open and Wimbledon, the US Open officials plans are to only close the Ashe Stadium roof for rain, not extreme heat.  We'll see how long that lasts.

A brand new 8000 seat Grandstand Court will also make its debut at this tournament, and for those of you in the New York area planning on attending it this year, you'll be happy to know that the National Tennis Center grounds were also redesigned to improve foot traffic,

But back to talking about the US Open which will run until September 11.   Serena will start her pursuit of her record seventh US Open title title and 23rd major title with a tough opening round match versus Russia's Ekaterina Makarova.  

Should she win that one, it's on to the second round to face the winner of the Antonia Lottner- Vania King match

Venus was the Williams sister that surprisingly took home a medal from Rio, a silver that she won in the mixed doubles tournament with Rajeev Ram.   She's seeded sixth in this edition of the US Open and unfortunately is in the same half of the draw as Little Sis.

She will open up first round play in a match with Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine, and would face the winner of the Julia Gorges-Yanina Wickmayer match in the second round.

And in case you're wondering if Venus and Serena were entered in the US Open doubles, nope they aren't.

Best of luck to my fave tennis playing siblings in this last tennis Grand Slam of 2016.

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 Fourth Round

The Williams Sisters so far successful business trip to Flushing Meadow for the US Open continued into the third round, but this time the sisters days were reversed.   While 23rd seeded Venus breezed to a straight set 6-3, 6-4 win against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, the evening session for number one seeded Serena didn't quite go as planned for her against fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Let's talk about Big Sis for a moment.   She advanced to the fourth round of the US Open for the first time since 2010 by knocking off the 12th seeded Bencic.   She will play qualifier Anett Kontaveit of Estonia who knocked off American Madison Brengle in three sets to get to the fourth round.


Serena's run to tennis history and the US Open fourpeat ran into trouble in her match with Mattek-Sands.  While she came out flat in the first set, spraying 14 unforced errors to just one for her opponent, Mattek-Sands was on her A game to the point that Serena dropped her first set at the US Open to another American since 2005.

Last American to take a first set from Serena at the US Open?   Her big sister Venus.  

But Serena dropping the first set in a Grand Slam has been a recurring theme this year, but she has managed to summon that refuse to lose will, up the level of her game and escape with the win eight times.

But Mattek-Sands kept up the pressure, coming within two games of springing the upset for the ages before Serena found the A++ tennis level that many people can't match and won eight straight games to take the match 3-6.7-5, 6-0.

Serena's next opponent will be Madison Keys, who she vanquished in the Australian Open semis earlier this year.   Keys got past Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets to earn another shot at the world's number one player.  

Should Serena and Venus get past their fourth round opposition on Sunday, they will face each other in the US Open quarterfinals.

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.

2014 Williams Watch-Serena Goes For The US Open Threepeat

Number one seeded Serena Williams has been all business and brutally efficient in this march to the 2014 US Open final.  

Taylor Townsend went down 6-3, 6-1 in 55 minutes in the opening round..  Her 6-0, 6-1 second round demolition of Vania King took just 56 minutes. The third round 6-3, 6-3 straight set win over Varvara Lepchenko took an hour and 35 minutes.  The fourth round 6-3, 6-3 win over Kaia Kanepi took 65 minutes.  Sending Flavia Pennetta to the US Open sidelines 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals also took 65 minutes, but ironically the first set took 29 minutes despite Serena being down 0-3.

And Ekaterina Makarova, who knocked out two time US Open finalist Victoria Azarenka, was no match for Little Sis, who took an hour to steamroll her 6-1, 6-3.

And now Serena goes for her 18th Grand Slam title against Caroline Wozniacki, who should be quaking in her tennis shoes after she pulled this stunt in 2012.  Serena is also 8-1 lifetime against her.

The media may be trying to push this 'Serena and Caroline are friends' storyline, but if y'all think the African-American community (or Serena) forgot how she was dissed by Wozniacki in Brazil, I have some Louisiana waterfront property to sell you along I-10 in the Atchafalaya Swamp. 

This match should be fun to watch.   If Serena is playing her dominant A+ game at Arthur Ashe Stadium, she should win her third straight US Open title and finally tie Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova at 18 on the all time majors win list.

Go get her Little Sis.

TransGriot Update:  6-3, 6-3  The threepeat is complete..

2014 Williams Watch-US Open Party Getting Started

The last Grand Slam of the 2014 tennis season cranked up in New York yesterday, and the question the tennis world is asking is will Serena break out of her Grand Slam mini-slump and finally win one this year and win her 18th to tie Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on the all time list?

We'll find out the answer to that question later today when number one seeded and world Number one ranked Little Sis takes to the Arthur Ashe Stadium court to begin defense of her US Open singles crown against Zina Garrison coached 18 year old Taylor Townsend.

The winner of this opening round match will move on to the US Open singles second round face the winner of the Vania King-Francesca Schavione match.

Big Sis won her first round match with Kimiko Date-Krumm at Arthur Ashe Stadium yesterday, but not without a struggle.   Venus had a rough first set as Date-Krumm kept her off balance with her repertoire of spins to take the first set 2-6.   Venus roared back to take the second set 6-3 and rolled to a 5-0 third set lead before Date-Krumm fought back to snatch the next three games and have two game points to chop Big Sis' once seemingly insurmountable lead to 5-4. 

But Venus recovered to stave off the two game points and eventually take the hard earned match 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.  It extended her career record in first round match wins at the US Open to an impressive 16-0.

Big Sis will face in the second round the winner of the Kiki Bertens-Timea Bacsinszky match, but before she does so, she may wish to cut down on those 36 unforced errors.

My fave tennis playing siblings are entered in the US Open Women's doubles tournament, with them having an opening round match with the seventh seeded team of Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic 

Best of luck ladies, and hope you have a long successful run in this tournament and piss off your haters.

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.