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.  

2017 Williams Watch- Venus To The 'Williams'-don Finals!

It's been a long time since we last saw Venus Williams playing in a Wimbledon final.  It was 2008 to be precise as the defending Wimbledon ladies singles champ, and she was playing against her little sister Serena.

Tenth seeded Big Sis now had the opportunity to reach another one and keep her hopes alive of capturing a sixth Wimbledon title.   But to do so she would have to battle sixth seeded British homegirl Johanna Konta and a Centre Court crowd cheering her on.

It was a tight match in the first set with both players holding serve until the ninth game when Venus got into a 15-40 hole but climbed out of trouble.

The critical point of the match came at 30-40 in that game.  Instead of hitting a slower second serve, Big Sis instead went for broke and walloped a 106 MPH second serve that caught Konta by surprise and she missed the return.

Williams would go on from that point a 40-all to hold serve and move to a 5-4 first set lead.  Venus then stepped up the pressure in the next game and started teeing off on Konta's returns to take the first set.

Big Sis continued her stellar play in the second set as Konta tried to stay in the match, but Venus would not be denied as she takes the second set and the match 6-4, 6-2 in straight sets.

It took Big Sis her a mere one hour and thirteen minutes to survive and advance to her ninth Wimbledon final and become at age 37, the oldest player ever to do so.

She will face 14th seeded Garbine Muguruza, who Little Sis beat in the 2015 Wimbledon finals and who dispatched Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova 6-1, 6-1 to punch her ticket to Saturday's final.

Can Venus pick up another Venus Rosewater Dish for the Williams family trophy case?   We'll find out this weekend.

2017 Williams Watch -Big Sis To The 'Williams'-don Sems

I call the grand slam tournament played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club 'Williams-don' for a very good reason.

Since 2000, with the exception of 2004, 2006, 2011, 2013 and 2014, a Williams sister has won the Wimbledon Ladies Singles Championship and turned it into their personal tennis playground.

Serena lost the 2004 Wimbledon finals in an upset.

Venus and Serena's domination at the All England Club is so thorough,  they not only have claimed a dozen combined ladies singles titles since 2000, but also won six Wimbledon doubles crowns in addition to claiming 2012 London Olympic tennis gold in singles (Serena) and doubles on these hallowed tennis grounds.

Since Serena isn't defending her back to back 2015-16 titles because of her pregnancy, it's up to Big Sis Venus to keep the Williams family Wimbledon ladies singles title roll going

And so far tenth seeded Venus has been more than up to the task of handling her London Grand Slam tennis business.

She started this 2017 Wimbledon run in search of her sixth title and first since 2008 by knocking off Belgium's Elise Mertens 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 to send her to her second round match with China's Wang Qiang.

Turned out to be a tougher than expected assignment.  Big Sis dropped the first set, but prevailed 4-6, 6-4, 6-1to move on to the third round to take on Japan's Naomi Osaka, who had dispatched 22nd seeded Barbora Strycova in three sets to face Williams.  .

As in her first round match with Mertens, she won it in straight sets and went to a tiebreaker to determine who took it.   But Big Sis survived and advanced 7-6 (7-3) 6- 4 to advance to her fourth round match with 27th seeded Ana Konjuh of Serbia, who had upset 8th seed Dominika Cibulkova in three sets.

Konjuh ended up getting beaten by Venus in straight sets 6-3, 6-2  to punch her ticket to the Wimbledon quarterfinals and a milestone match with Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko, who had knocked off fourth seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine to get there and is the reigning 2017 French Open champion.

The fourth round match with the thirteenth seeded Ostapenko was significant for two reasons.  It was Venus' 100th match at Wimbledon, and she became by reaching the quarters the oldest player to reach this round of Wimbledon since Martina Navratilova in 1994.

She celebrated it in winning style by ousting Ostapenko in straight sets to become the oldest player since Navratilova to make it to the semifinal round.   She also has an enviable  86-14 singles match record as a result

But she faces a tough assignment in her half of the semis in order to get to her first Wimbledon final since 2008 in Great Britain's Johanna Konta.

The sixth seed made a little history herself, becoming the first British woman since Virginia Wade did so in 1978 to reach the semis, and the first since Jo Durie in 1984 to reach the quarterfinals.

So Venus will be fighting the home crowd and Konta as she attempts to make her first Wimbledon final since 2008 and keep the Venus Rosewater dish in the Williams family.

Winner of her match plays the winner of the Garbine Muguruza- Magdalena Rybarikova match.

Let's go Big Sis!   Handle your Grand Slam tennis business!

2017 Williams Watch- Venus Is Out At 2017 French Open

Aww, I was hoping with all the upsets that included defending 2016 French Open champ Garbine Muguruza, that 10th seeded Big Sis would get to make a serious run at winning her second French Open title, but it was not to be,

She got off to a great start against 30th seeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland, taking the first set of the match, but you have to win two to advance to the next round, and it fell apart for her.  

Venus lost 7-5, 2-6, 1-6 to end her run at Roland Garros.

Oh well, 'Williams'-don starts on July 3,  Maybe she'll have better results on the other side of the Channel  when they go to her and Serena's personal tennis playground at the All England Club.

We'll see in a few weeks .    

2017 Williams Watch- Venus Rising

Since Little Sis announced that she was pregnant, and won the 2017 Australian Open title while with child, me seeing Serena complete a calendar year Grand Slam sweep is over for 2017, so I wasn't paying attention when the French Open started at Stade Roland Garros back on May 22.

While Little Sis is counting the days until she has her first child, I forgot for a minute that Big Sis is still playing, ranked number eleven in the world WTA rankings, and at age 36 (until June 17) is still kicking butt and taking names while repping the greatest tennis playing sister act of all time.

Venus started this 2017 edition of the French Open in search of her second title and her first since 2002 as the tenth seed in this tournament.

As usual in Paris, some big name seeded players on the women's singles tennis side have already been knocked out and are looking to have better luck across The Pond at The Championships.

Number one seeded Angelique Kerber, Johanna Konta (7), Coco Vandeweghe (19), Lauren Davis (25), Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (22) and Roberta Vinci (31) all were one match and done in the first round.

The second round at Roland Garros claimed sixth seeded Dominika Cibulkova, Madison 'I'm Not Black' Keys (12), Petra Kvitova (15), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (16), Kiki Bertens (18), Barbora Strycova (20), and Ana Konjuh (29)

The seeded players that fell in the third round are ninth seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, Elena Vesnina (14), Daria Kasatkina (26), Yulia Putintseva (27) and Zhang Shuhai (32).

But back to French Open tenth seeded Big Sis and how she's doing in this edition of the French Open who is in section four of the top half of the women's draw which has been decimated by the upsets and presents an opportunity for Big Sis to possibly win this title.

In the first round she dispatched China's Qiang Wang in straight sets 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) to set up her second round match with Kurumi Nara of Japan.  

Big Sis sent Nara quickly packing with another straight set 6-3,  6-1 win to propel her into the third round against Belgium's Elise Mertens, who also got sent to the Roland Garros sidelines in that same straight sets 6-3, 6-1 score.

That win over Mertens sets up her fourth round match with 30th seeded Swiss miss Timea Bacsinszky.  Should Venus prevail, she would face off in the quarters against the winner of the match between 2016 defending French Open champ Garbine Muguruza (4) and French homegirl Kristina Mladenovic (13)

Good luck the rest of the way Big Sis!
   

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

2017 Williams Watch -On To The Aussie Open Semifinals!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2017 Williams Watch- Rolling To The Quarterfinals

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2017 Williams Watch - The Australian Open Starts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2016 Williams Watch- 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.

2016 Williams Watch-Shocking Olympic Exits

This Olympic trip to Rio has not been a good one so far for my fave tennis playing siblings.

On Saturday I got to painfully watch fifth seeded Venus go from being two points from winning her match and moving on to a second round match in the Olympic tennis singles tournament to a WTF loss to Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7) .

The pain got worse for we fans of the Williams sisters as we watched the once unbeaten Olympic in doubles and three time Olympic doubles gold medalists have a bad day at the office.

The number on seeded doubles team and defending Olympic champions shockingly suffered their first ever Olympic doubles loss after 15 straight wins in the first round to Barbora Strycova and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in straight sets  3-6, 4-6.

But all is not lost .  You will see a Williams sister playing tennis in Rio.   Number one seeded and defending Olympic singles champion Serena is still alive in the Olympic women's singles competition.   She beat Australia's Danila Gavrilova 6-4, 6-2 to move on to her second round match against Alize Cornet of France.

Winner takes on 15th seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the third round

2016 Williams Watch- Number 22!

Should be an interesting Saturday for the Williams sisters, and you never bet against them when they are playing matches at their personal SW19 tennis playground called the All England Club.
-TransGriot, July 8, 2016

It took a while, but after upset losses in the 2015 US Open semis, the 2016 Australian Open finals and the 2016 French Open finals a month ago, world number one Serena Williams finally gets that elusive Grand Slam title number 22 at her SW19 tennis playground.  She prevailed with a 7-5, 6-3 straight set win on Centre Court over Germany's Angelique Kerber, the player who upset her in Australia a mere six months ago.

That was then, this is now.   While the fourth seeded Kerber came to play and tried to execute the game plan that worked for her in Melbourne by trying to hit those wide crossing shots to pull Serena off the court, Serena was anticipating she'd do that and was ready for her this time.


She cut that off, and when it was time to serve, it was on target and being placed with laser precision accuracy wherever she wanted it.

And oh yeah haters, she repeats as Wimbledon ladies singles champion and equals Steffi Graf with that 22nd Grand Slam singles title.

This was her seventh Wimbledon ladies singles title, and she has a shot at capturing another title today with Big Sis in the ladies doubles championship.  Should they knock off the Timea Babos-Yaroslava Shvedova duo, it would be their 14th doubles Grand Slam crown

TransGriot Update: She and Venus did win the Wimbledon ladies doubles crown.  They won their sixth 'Williams'-don doubles title in a straight set 6-4, 6-3 win over Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova.

They are now 14-0 in Grand Slam doubles finals.  

2016 Williams Watch-Serena And Venus In The Wimbledon Doubles Final!

For the first time since they won it all in 2012, the Williams sisters are playing in the Wimbledon ladies doubles title match.

They knocked off the eight seeded duo of Julia Gorges of Germany and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 on No. 1 Court to advance and play for a shot at their sixth Wimbledon doubles title and 14th Grand Slam career doubles title.

And just a reminder for all you peeps in the doubles competition at the upcoming Rio Olympic Games, Big and Little Sis are the three time doubles gold medalists, winning in 2000, 2008 and in 2012 at their fave tennis venue.

The women standing on the opposite side of the net that will try to stop them from making more tennis history will be the number five seeded doubles duo of Hungary's Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.   They are on a roll after knocking off the number one seeds and defending Wimbledon doubles champs Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 to get to the semis, and a 6-4, 6-2 straight set win over the tenth seeded American duo of Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears to advance to the doubles final.

Should be an interesting Saturday for the Williams sisters, and you never bet against them when they are playing matches at their personal SW19 tennis playground called the All England Club.  

   .    

2016 Williams Watch- Mixed Wimbledon News Day For The Williams Sisters

Today was semifinal day for the'Williams'-don ladies singles tournament, and my fave tennis playing siblings were at Centre Court playing for their first all Williams singles final since 2009.

Serena quickly dispatched Russia's Elena Vesnina in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 to make it to her third consecutive Grand Slam final this year and set up an opportunity to win her seventh Wimbledon title and 22nd career Gland Slam title win.

However, eight seeded  Big Sis didn't get to join Little Sis in the Wimbledon ladies singles final.  She unfortunately lost to fifth seeded German Angelique Kerber 4-6, 4-6 and fall just short of the opportunity to win her sixth Wimbledon title.

It is Kerber, who upset Serena in the 2016 Australian Open final that will face Little Sis on Saturday.

Big Sis' London business trip isn't over yet.  She and Serena are still in contention for their first Wimbledon doubles crown since 2012 and their 15th Grand Slam title.

They headed over to Court No. 2 and knocked off the number 4 doubles seeds Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova in three sets 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-2 to punch their ticket to the ladies doubles semifinals

The Williams sisters will take on the 8th seeded doubles duo of Julia Gorges of Germany and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic with a spot in the doubles final on the line.

Should they handle their business tomorrow, they will face in the finals the winner of the Timea Babos/Yaroslava Shvedova - Raquel Atawo/Abigail Spears match

ButThe fifth seeded Babos and Shvedova knocked off the number one seeds and defending Wimbledon doubles champs Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza 6-2, 6-4 in straight sets to take on the 10th seeded American duo.

We'll see what happens tomorrow in  the ladies doubles action and on Saturday at Centre Court.

2016 Williams Watch- In The Wimbledon Semis!

I told y'all the All England Club was the personal tennis playground of the Williams sisters, and in this 2016 Wimbledon tournament they are proving it.   For the first time since 2009, the Williams sisters, who have eleven singles titles combined, are in the Wimbledon ladies singles semifinals at the same time.

World number one Serena won her Centre Court quarterfinal match with Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 to punch her ticket to the semifinals against another Russian in Elena Vesnina.

Meanwhile over on No. 1 Court, eighth seeded Venus was pushed a bit and was down 2-5 in the first set tiebreaker, but regrouped and won in straight sets against Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 to make it to her semifinal match with number five seed Angelique Kerber

It was the first time since the 2010 US Open that she has made it to a Grand Slam semifinal,

We'll see on Thursday if both Williams sisters make it to the ladies singles final on Saturday.

They are also still in contention for their first 'Williams'-don doubles crown since 2012, and dispatched the Czech duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-4, 6-3 in their third round ladies doubles match

They will face in the ladies doubles quarters the winner of the Barbora Strycova/Michaella Krajicek - Elena Vesnina/Ekaterina Makarova match.

TransGriot Update:  They will face in the Wimbledon doubles quarters the number four seeded Russian duo of Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova.

2016 Williams Watch- Serena And Venus In The Wimbledon Quarters!

The Williams sisters are still alive in this rain delayed 2016 edition of 'Williams-don' and are both in the ladies singles quarterfinals cruising toward a possible All-Williams Wimbledon finals matchup for the first time at the All England club since 2009.

Number one tournament seed Serena handled her third and fourth round business by blitzing Germany's Annika Beck in straight sets 6-3, 6-0 and 13th seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-0 in the same fashion on Centre Court.

The Kuznetsova match was noteworthy because it was Little Sis' 300th Grand Slam match win, and ensured she would keep the number one world WTA ranking for the 300th consecutive week.

Serena will now face 21st seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who knocked off Yulia Putintseva, 11th seeded Timea Bacsinszky, and 27th seeded Coco Vandeweghe to get her shot at the world's number one player.

Should she get past Pavlyuchenkova, she would face in the semis the winner of the Dominika Cibulkova- Elena Vesnina match.

Meanwhile eighth seeded Venus, after surviving two three set matches, found herself in the fourth round facing 12th seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro.   She had to endure a first set tiebreaker, but this time finished her business in only two sets and closed out her match serving for triple break point.  

Big Sis' 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 sent her to a quarterfinal matchup with Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova, who has knocked off Julia Gorges, 17th seeded Elina Svitolina, Sabine Lisicki and 28th seeded Lucie Safarova to get to the quarterfinal round.

Should she get past Shvedova, Venus' semifinal match would be another tough one.  She would have to face the survivor of a quarterfinal match between number 4 seed Angelique Kerber and number 5 seed Simona Halep.

The Williams sisters are competing for their first Wimbledon ladies doubles title since 2012 as a warmup for the Rio Olympic tennis tournament, and are now in the third round of this doubles competition after knocking off the Belgian duo of Elise Mertens and An-Sophie Mestach in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.

They will face the sixth seeded Czech duo of Lucie Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova for a spot in the ladies doubles quarterfinals.

So far things are looking good for them at their 'Williams'-don playground, and we'll have to wait and see if my fave tennis playing siblings are hoisting trophies this weekend at SW19.