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.

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 Olympics Watch-Williams Sisters Defend Olympic Doubles Title

If there was any doubt as to just how great the Williams sisters are and what their tennis legacy will be, they just added to it yesterday and silenced their Hater Tots chomping critics at the same time..

Venus and Serena won a 6-4, 6-4 straight set rematch of their recent Wimbledon doubles championship match yesterday against the Czech duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka to become the first tennis players ever to win four gold medals.  

In addition to the unranked Williams sisters knocking off three ranked doubles teams and not dropping a set enroute to the 2012 London Olympic doubles crown to add to the wons they won in Sydney in 2000 and Beijing in 2008, they also extended their Olympic tennis doubles record to a spotless 15-0.

Don't hate.  They are all that.   Just imagine where their legacy in the sport would be if the my fave tennis playing siblings had been able to stay healthy.  .

And yes, they are thinking about going for the doubles golden threepeat in Rio in 2016.  Should be fun to watch if that happens.  

2012 Olympic Watch-Serena's Golden!

Just finished watching Little Sis blitz Russia's Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 in a little over an hour to capture the 2012 Olympic women's singles gold medal.  

Serena not only didn't drop a set in this golden run to the singles title at the All England Club, she only lost 17 games total while doing so. 

Serena also made a little history in the process.  Little Sis is the first female player ever to achieve the career Golden Slam in singles and doubles.

The Golden Slam is winning all four major tennis tournaments plus winning an Olympic singles gold medal.  To recap, Serena just picked up her singles gold in London, and is on track with Big Sis to possibly win doubles gold.   She and Big Sis won doubles gold in 2000 and 2008.

Speaking of the London Olympic doubles tournament, my fave tennis playing siblings will take on the Russian duo of  Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova in the semifinals of the women's doubles tournament, with the winners challenging the Czech Republic's duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the gold-medal match.

They beat Hlavackova and Hradecka a few weeks ago for their 'Williams'-don doubles title, and the way Serena is playing right now I have no doubts should they get past the Russian duo they will do so again.

But you still have to platy the matches.

Congrats Serena.  If anyone doubted (or hated on the fact) that you are one of the greatest tennis players of all time, they don't have much of an argument any more.

TransGriot Update:  Serena and Venus are in tomorrow's doubles final after beating Kirilenko and Petrova in straight sets 7-5, 6-4.

2012 Olympics Watch-Mixed News Day For The Williams Sisters

Yesterday in the Olympic tennis tournament being played at the All England Club was a mixed bag news day for my favorite tennis playing siblings.

Venus was in a third round match with Germany's Angelique Kerber, but had a bad day and it cost her as she lost 6-7(5-7),6-7(5-7) to end her chance to win the London singles gold medal   .

Big Sis had a 5-4 lead in the first set against Kerber with triple set point but failed to convert them and ended up in a tiebreaker.  She had a 5-1 lead at one point in the first set tiebreaker but lost six consecutive points to lose the tiebreaker and the first set.  .

Venus regrouped and charged out to a 3-1 second set lead but Kerber charged back to eventually force another tiebreaker and win the match.   Venus' usually reliable serve took a vacation at the wrong time as well double faulting twice in the second tie breaker to set Kerber up with match point..

“I made a few errors and she hit a few winners, and things can go quickly in tennis,” Williams said.

Her quest for a fourth tennis gold medal is still alive because she and Little Sis are still in the mix for a repeat doubles title.

Speaking of fourth seeded Little Sis, she had a better day.  The roof was closed on Centre Court and that was bad news for her opponent, Russia's Vera Zvonareva.  Serena took only 51 minutes to execute a dominating 6-0, 6-1 win in which she unleashed 12 aces on Zvonareva and hit 32 winners to move to the quarterfinals.   

Serena faces eight seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark later today and then teams with Big Sis to play a doubles quarterfinal match with the number 2 ranked Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.

TransGriot Update: Serena knocked off Caroline Wozniacki 6-0,6-3 to get to the semifinals against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus

2012 Olympics Watch-Great Day For The Williams Sisters

It was a great day at the All England Club for the Williams Sisters in the London Olympic tennis tournament and a bad one for their haters.  

Venus Williams got her quest for a fourth overall Olympic tennis gold medal started properly by taking only 63 minutes to beat ninth seeded Sara Errani of Italy in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 in her first round match that was postponed a day due to Sunday's heavy rain. 

She faces Canada's Aleksandra Wozniack in a second round match that will determine whether she joins Serena in the round of 16.

Just to remind y'all, Big Sis was the 2000 Olympic singles champ at the Sydney Games in addition to capturing the Olympic doubles titles with Little Sis in 2000 and 2008.

Speaking of Little Sis, Serena Williams took only one hour and 13 minutes to win in straight sets her second round match with Poland's Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-3.   Fourth seeded  Little Sis wasn't playing with Agnieszka's baby sis in this match.  She served up 8 aces and hit 26 winners to complete to her July sweep of the Radwanska sisters and move on to play Russia's Vera Zvonareva in the Round of 16. 

Serena beat Zvonareva for the 2010 Wimbledon ladies' singles title, just you give you haters something else to chew on. .

My fave tennis playing siblings then headed to Court 2 a few hours later and successfully got their quest for a third Olympic doubles title off to a winning start.   They opened the defense of the Beijing doubles title by beating the Romanian duo of Sorana Cirstea and Simona Halep 6-3, 6-2 to advance to their second round doubles match versus fifth seeded Angelique Kerber and Sabine Lisicki of Germany.

TransGriot Update: Venus Beat Wozniack 6-1, 6-3 to move to the round of 16 and face Angelique Kerber of Germany.

more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/30/4674900/williams-sisters-win-opening-olympic.html#storylink=cpy

2012 Olympics Watch-Yo Haters, Serena Wins First Round Olympic Singles Match

The 2012 London Olympics tennis tournament got started at the All-England Club with an unusual sight. color.   It is the tennis venue for these Games, and the usual mostly all white clothing rule has been waived.

Not only did the players take advantage of it by wearing clothing in their national colors, the Wimbledon courts were decorated with the purple colors and bunting of the London Games.

But since this is 'Williams'-don, one thing didn't change.  This is still Serena Williams' house, and the 2012 Wimbledon singles and defending 2008 Olympic gold doubles champ sent that message loud and clear while First Lady Michelle Obama was watching the action from the front row of Serena's box.  

The best server in women's tennis has it dialed in once again.  The fourth seeded Little Sis hit eight aces, lost  only 10 service points and faced no break points in beating Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.   She got her pursuit of her first Olympic singles medal off to a rousing start and advanced to her second round match against Urszula Radwanska sf Poland.   Yep, she's the sister of Agnieszka Radwanska, who Little Sis beat in the 'Williams'-don singles final a few weeks ago.

Speaking of sisters, Venus Williams will take on Italy's Sara Errani in her first Olympic singles match July 29   My fave tennis playing siblings and reigning 2012 Wimbledon doubles champs will also begin the pursuit of their second consecutive Olympic doubles title on July 29 with their opening match against Romania's Sorana Cirstea and Simona Halep

Williams Sisters Win, Cue Racist And Transphobic Slurs

Didn't take long for the haters to start posting racist negativity aimed at the Williams sisters as they had a very successful fortnight at 'Williams'-don and captured the Ladies singles and doubles titles.

Loved this post by NewBlackMan (In Exile) Entitled 'Ain't I A Champion?'

If you think I'm kidding about the racist negativity, just peruse some of the comments that were directed at her on Twitter this week.

Today a giant gorilla escaped the zoo and won the womens title at Wimbledon... oh that was Serena Williams? My mistake.

      Serena Williams is a gorilla

     Watching tennis and listening to dad talk about how Serena Williams looks like gorilla from the mist

     I don't see how in the hell men find Serena Williams attractive?! She looks like a male gorilla in a dress, just saying!

   
You might as well just bang a gorilla if you're going to bang Serena Williams

     Earlier this week I said that all female tennis players were good looking. I was clearly mistaken:

The Gorilla aka Serena Williams.

      serena williams looks like a gorilla

      Serena Williams is half man, half gorilla! I'm sure of it.

     Serena Williams look like a man with tits, its only when she wears weave she looks female tbh, what a HENCH BOLD GORILLA!

       
Serena Williams is a gorilla in a skirt playing tennis #Wimbledon

      My god Serena Williams is ugly! She’s built like a silver backed gorilla

      I would hate to come across Serena Williams in a dark alley #nightmare #gorilla #notracist

      Serena williams is one of the ugliest human beings i've ever seen #Gorilla

Note to you scientifically illiterate bigots.   Gorillas also look like this.

I don't hear you comparing those Eastern European tennis playing amazons who lose to the Williams sisters on a regular basis on the world tennis tour to this animal, calling them ugly or men. 

I'm just sayin'. 

But I'm more than a little sick of the Williams sisters getting 'unwoman' shade spat at them by you haters who bitterly resent the fact that international tennis since 1999 has been dominated by two Black women who grew up in Compton.

Serena went through the defending Wimbledon champ in Kvitova, the presumptive world number one and 2012 Australian Open champ in Azarenka and Radwanska to get her fifth Venus (Williams) Rosewater Dish, so yeah she earned it.

You haters want so desperately to write them off, ignore their accomplishments and their status as two of the greatest tennis players in the game, but they continue to win Grand Slams.  You resent the fact the Williams sisters have had injuries, battled illnesses stared death in the face and still come back after an almost two year layoff to spank those behinds on the various world tennis courts. 

By the way, in case you weren't aware of this, the 2012 Olympic tennis tournament will be conducted at the All England Club.  Who are the defending tennis doubles gold medallists?   Serena and Venus.  . 

And still they rise.   They look damned good doing it too. 

2012 Williams Watch-'Williams'-don Championship Saturday

It was a wonderful day for the Williams sisters at the All England Club Saturday and a bad one for you Williams sisters haters.  

It started with Serena collecting her fifth Wimbledon ladies signles title and 14th career Grand Slam at Centre Court after defeating third seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-1, 5-7, 6-2

She also equals Big Sis in adding a fifth Venus (Williams) Rosewater Dish to the family trophy case. 


Nine hours after that hard fought ladies singles championship match concluded Serena teamed up with her big sister Venus to win their first Wimbledon doubles title since 2009 and their first Grand Slam doubles championship since the 2010 French Open  with a straight set 7-5, 6-4 victory over the Czech duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka.

The poptop Centre Court roof was closed for this one.and they also had time pressure to contend with since the match had to be completed before the 11:00 PM London time curfew would suspend play .  .

Next up is being back at the All England Club in two weeks for the start of the Olympic tennis tournament in which they are the defending 2008 gold medallists..

2012 Willams Watch-Williams Power!

My fave tennis playing siblings continue their so far wildly successful tennis business trip to the All England Club by knocking off the number one doubles seeds Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 in their doubles semifinal match..

Huber and Raymond flipped the script on my girls and took the first set in 33 minutes as Venus and Serena struggled with calibrating their serves.  But once they got it done, Little and Big Sis won seven straight games to take the second set and built a 3-0 lead in the third set before cruising to victory and their ninth Wimbledon Ladies doubles final.

They will play against the sixth seeded Czech duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka  in the Ladies doubles finals and attempt to win their sixth 'Williams'-don doubles crown.

2012 Williams Watch-Yo Haters, The Williams Sisters Are Still Winning At 'Williams'-don

If you wonder why I call The Championships 'Williams'-don, its because if you peruse the champions list in the singles and doubles ranks you'll see the Williams name prominently displayed multiple times.  It's also the major Grand Slam tourney in which the Williams sisters have had the most success.

Even the ladies singles championship trophy is named the Venus (Williams) Rosewater Dish

It's gonna be a bad weekend for the Williams haters because Serena is another step closer to collecting her fifth Wimbledon Ladies singles title and matching Big Sis.  In her semifinal match she broke the Wimbledon aces record she just set a few days ago in obliterating one time world number one player Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in straight sets 6-3,7-6 (8-6).  

She served a record 24 aces, with the 24th one coming on match point.  It also tied the all time WTA record for aces served in a two set match and ensured she'd reach her seventh 'Williams'-don final.   

Serena is 9-1 against Azarenka and as has been the case in this 2012 Wimbledon tournament Little Sis got off to another fast first set start.   She took 33 minutes to win it before Azarenka pulled up the big girl panties and dug in to fight in the second set. 

But with the serving clinic Serena was putting on at Centre Court yesterday there was no way she was going to be beaten.   

She faces Poland's Agniezska Radwanska for the Ladies singles title Saturday

And for you people who like hatin' on any tennis success the Williams sisters have, here's some more Hater Tots fresh out of the grease for y'all to chew on. 

Serena then teamed up with Big Sis in their Ladies doubles quarterfinal a few hours later to make quick 6-1, 6-1 work of American doubles duo Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears with the match taking less than an hour to complete.   My fave tennis playing siblings will now face fellow Americans and number one doubles seeds Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in the doubles semis and setting up an opportunity for the Williams sisters to win their 13th Grand Slam doubles title should they beat Huber and Raymond..

2012 Williams Watch-Doubles Double Duty

The 4th of July was an off day for the Ladies Singles semifinalists, but not for the hardest working woman at 'Williams'-don  

In order to get ready for the upcoming Olympics tennis tournament that will also be played at the All England Club in a few short weeks, my favorite tennis playing siblings were entered in the doubles tournament for the first time since they were upset in the Wimbledon doubles quarterfinals while seeking a doubles title threepeat. in 2010.

Since then both have struggles with injuries and health issues that knocked them off their lofty status of being the world's number one ranked doubles team. 

The unseeded sisters started their quest for their 13th doubles Grand Slam title by knocking off the tandem of Vesna Dolonc of Serbia and Olga Savchuk of Ukraine in straight sets 6-0, 6-3.   That got them to their second round matchup with the fourth seeded Russian duo of Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova in which they won in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 9-7.

Their third round matchup was yesterday with Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the USA and Sania Mirza of India and beat them in straights set 6-4, 6-3

They are now in the Ladies doubles quarterfinals, on track for their first 'Williams'-don doubles title since 2009 and will face the tenth seeded American duo of Raquel Kops-Jones and  Abigail Spears.

Winner will face the number one seeded doubles team of Americans Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in the semis..

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

.   .

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.