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.

2019 Williams Watch - Serena Makes It To The 'Williams'-don Final

I call 'The Championships' as they are referred to across The Pond 'Williams'-don because both Serena and Venus have basically turned the All England Club into their personal tennis playground..

The 2019 edition of Wimbledon started with Venus exiting the tournament in the first round after being upset by 15 year old American qualifier Cori 'Coco' Gauff 4-6,4-6 in straight sets.    Gauff electrified the tennis world by making a run all the way to the fourth round before being eliminated by Romania's Simona Halep.

That wasn't the end of  Venus' time in London.   She decided to play mixed doubles with fellow American Frances Tlafoe while Serena an Andy Murray of Great Britain played together.

Venus and Tlafoe made it to the second round of the mixed doubles tourney while Serena and Murray lasted until the third round,

11th seeded Serena had no problems with the qualifier she faced in Italy's Giulia Gatto-Monticone, dispacting her in straight sets 6-2,7-5.   That sent her into a second round match with another qualifier in Slovenia's Kaja Juvan

Juvan served notice that this wasn't going to be like Serena's first round match.    She took the first set, but Little Sis regrouped and took the next to to punch her ticket to the third round after her 2-6, 6-2. 6-4  win. 

Her third round opponent was Germany's Julia Gorges.   Williams rolled to a 6-3, 6-4 straight set win over the 18th seeded Gorges to set up her fourth round match with Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.

Williams handled her tennis business and sent the 30th seeded Suarez Navarro packing after a 6-2, 6-2 straight set win to punch her ticket to the quarterfinals

After Serena won the first set of this quarterfinal, Alison Riske flipped the tennis script and forced a winner take all third set.   Little Sis would not be denied, and took this match 6-4, 4-6, 6-3,

Serana faced Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic in the semis, and wasted no time pinning a 6-1 6-2 straight set 59 minute tennis beatdown on Strycova to punch her ticket to her 11th Wimbledon finals appearance.

She will take on seventh seeded Simona Halep, who is playing in her first ever Wimbledon final.   She has also won just once against Little Sis in ten meetings, but thinks she's ready for the challenge.

If Serena wins on Saturday, she will capture not only her eighth Wimbledon title, but will tie that unrepentant homophobe Margaret Court with her 24th Grand Slam title win.

Good luck Serena!    Handle your tennis business

2019 Williams Watch- On To The Australian Open Third Round

The Williams Sisters are still handing their tennis business in Melbourne for this year's edition of the Australian Open and cruising toward another Sister-Sister confrontation in the fourth round.

They handled their second round matches in different ways.

Venus continues to do it the hard way.     She had another three set marathon against France's Alize Cornet, but unlike the first round match, she didn't have to go to tiebreakers to determine who won the sets.

Big Sis also flipped the personal tennis script by winning the first set, losing the second, then turning up her game another notch to overwhelm her opponent in the third. 

She beat Cornet 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 to punch her ticket to the third round and a match with the world number one (for now) and the tournament number one seed in Simona Halep of Romania

Halep has also bee flirting with disaster herself the last two rounds, taking three sets to dispose of  Kaia  Kanepi of Estonia and  Sofia Kenin of the US.

Serena so far has looked like her old dominating self.

She rolled through another microwave tennis match, needing just 70 minutes to brush Eugenie Bouchard of Canada out of the tournament in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. 

It was shaky at times, but 22 winners and capturing the last five games to close out the match definitely helps you close matches out in a hurry

Little Sis may only be seeded 16th, but she is still considered the person to beat here as she pursues her record extending eighth Australian Open title and her 24th Grand Slam title overall

Unless the refs start messing with her.  And heaven help Naomi Osaka if they meet in this tournament.  They are on the same side of the bracket.

But first, before we start talking about potential future matches, she has to handle her third round business against Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine.    Yastremska has already taken out Sam Stosur  in straight sets and 23rd seeded Carla Suarez Navarro in the second round in three sets.

2019 Williams Watch- It's Australian Open Time!

'New year, new tennis season, and of course you TransGriot readers know I'll be keeping up with my fave tennis playing siblings in Venus and Serena Williams.

This will be the first time since the 2017 Australian Open final that both sisters will be playing in this tournament, the first Grand Slam of the 2019 tennis calendar.

You'll recall after Serena won that 2017 Open title, her 23rd overall, in straight sets, she discovered she was 24 weeks pregnant

The Williams sisters won't meet in the Aussie final this year, but potentially the fourth round because they are not only on the same side of the women's singles draw, they are in the same section of it.

WTF?

Their 2019 run in the Aussie Open began with Big Sis taking on 25th seeded  Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania in the first round.   Big Sis had to work after dropping the first set in a tiebreaker.   She flipped the script by winning the second set in the tie breaker to even the match, and then blowing out Buzarescu in the third set.

Nevertheless, she persisted and will advance to take on Alize Cornet of France after posting a 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 win.

16th seeded Serena started her quest for her 24th Grand Slam title with an opening round match at Rod Laver Arena  with Germany's Tatjana Maria.

Little Sis wasted little time in administering this tennis beatdown, with her spending a grand total of 49 minutes on the court to send Maria packing.  She fired 22 winners in this match, and took the opening set in just 18 minutes

She punched her ticket to what looks to be a much tougher second round match with Canada's Eugenie Bouchard after a 6-0, 6-2 straight set win.

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.

2018 Williams Watch - Serena's In The 'Williamsdon' Ladies Finals

Serena Williams so far is having a wonderful business trip to London.   Because of a jacked up WTA rule, she lost her world number one ranking while she was on maternity leave and started ranked 453 in the world. 

After the French Open, whose organizers declined to exercise their prerogative to assign her a seed, she stormed her way to the fourth round at Roland Garros before she had to withdraw because of a muscle injury in her serving arm.  .

Williams was given a number 25 seed by Wimbledon tournament organizers that appears to be at this point way too low.  They forgot that the All England Club since 2000 has been hers and Venus' personal tennis playground, and she's proven it so far. that she's probably back at her Serena level A+ game.

Considering the way she's playing at the moment, she might be back as the world's number one ranked player by the time the US Open happens, and hopefully after Saturday, in possession of another Venus (Williams) Rosewater Dish. 

She's won her 20th consecutive match at Wimbledon and is in her 10th Wimbledon ladies final after beating Camila Giorgi of Italy in three sets on Monday and Julia Goerges of Germany.   

Serena in that match dropped the first set in that quarterfinal match to Giorgi,,but came storming back to post a 3-6, 6-3,6-4 win to punch her ticket to the semifinals to face the 13th seeded Goerges.

Goerges looked like at the start that she was going to hang with Little Sis, but with the first set tied at 2-2, Serena won the next four games to close out the first set. 

The second set had the same pattern.  Goerges was tied at 2-2, then stepped it up to Serena A+ level to take a 5-3 lead and have the opportunity to close it out on her serve. 

The best match closer in the tennis business failed to do that.  Williams went down in this game 0-40, got it back to 30-40 before a wicked Goerges crosscourt forehand handcuffed her for the service break that Goerges needed to get back to 4-5 with a chance to tie the set.

Goerges promptly handed that service break back to Serena, going down 0-40 and setting Little Sis up with three match points.  This time The Closer handled her business and finished off this game and the match in 1 hour and 30 minutes, 6-2, 6-4.

Serena faces Angelique Kerber in the Saturday ladies singles final, who she has a 6-2 record against.   
Williams is not only attempting to capture her eight Wimbledon title, she's also trying to become only the fourth mom to win a Grand Slam tournament.

And yeah, should she handle her business against Kerber, it would be Williams' 24th career Grand Slam title, which would tie her Margaret Court's homophobic behind.

2018 Williams Watch- It's "Williamsdon' Time!

The third major on the professional tennis Grand Slam calendar started on July 2.  It is one that my fave tennis playing siblings have dominated so thoroughly since they joined the tour in 1999 that I call it 'Williamsdon'.

Venus and Serena Williams domination of this tournament is so awesome that during the 2000's, the only times someone not named Williams won Wimbledon in this decade was in 2004 and 2006.

Maria Sharapova Sharadopa upset Serena in the 2004 Wimbledon final, and Amelie Mauresmo beat Justine Henin in 2006 after Venus was upset in the third round and Serena was sidelined with a knee injury.

Four times during the 2000's, the Williams sisters played each other for the Venus (Williams) Rosewater Dish in 2002, 2003, 2008 and 2009.

They even won Olympic gold in singles (Serena) and doubles during the 2012 London Games on those same All England Club grass courts

This latest edition of The Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club found Serena seeded 25th and big sis Venus entering this tournament seeded ninth..

Five time champ Venus started this edition of Wimbledon trying to repeat her run to the 2017 Wimbledon finals.  She started a troubling pattern in her opening round match with Johanna Larsson of Sweden in which she would drop her first set, then come storming back to win the match. 

In her match versus Larsson, Big Sis dropped the first set in a tiebreaker 6-7 (3-7), then took the next two by 6-2 and 6-1 scores  to get to the second round match with Romania's Alexandra Dulgheru.   Once again, Venus dropped the first set 4-6, then came storming back to win the next two by 6-0 and 6-1 scores.

But sooner or later, playing three set matches and doing it the way Big Sis was will catch up with you against a better player, and it did in the third round against 20th seeded Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands.

Venus once again dropped the first set in this match 2-6, then took the second set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-5).. She dropped the third set and the match 6-8 to exit the tournament.

She wasn't the only seeded player to have problems at the All England Club   Ten seeded players went out in the first round.  One of those peeps who had to sashay away from Centre Court in the first round was (heh heh heh) Maria Sharapova. 

Four other seeded players got dispatched in the second round, including 2017 Wimbledon defending champion Garbine Muguruza.  Eleven others joined Venus in the third round including tournament number one seed Simona Halep.

All this to say that Serena thanks to all those upsets has to be considered a favorite to win her eighth Wimbledon title and her 24th career Grand Slam title.

But first she has to play and get through the matches.

Little Sis faced Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands in the first round, and beat her in straight sets 7-5, 6-3.   Her second round opponent was qualifier  Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria, who like Rus, got sent packing in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.

Her third round match was more of a challenge in Kristina Mladenovic of France.   Serena had to work a bit for this one, but still beat her in straight sets 7-5, 7-6 (7-2) in the second set tiebreaker.

That sent Serena to the fourth round, where she will face another qualifier in Russia's Evgeniya Rodina. 

Should she successfully navigate that match, it would put her in the quarterfinals versus the winner of the Camila Giorgi-Ekaterina Makarova match. 

Definitely looking forward to seeing how this second week of 'Williamsdon' plays out.

TransGriot Update:  Serena beat Ridina 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the Ladies singles quarterfinal round and play Camila Giorgi of Italy. 
 

2018 Williams Watch- It's French Open Time!

The arrival of the month of May also means it's time for the second Grand Slam on the professional tennis calendar in the French Open

It starts tomorrow, and it's also the first Grand Slam tourney that Serena Williams will play in since she gave birth to her daughter Alexis back in September.   She was ranked number one in the world when she went on maternity leave, and is now ranked number 22 in the WTA rankings.

Knowing Little Sis, won't take her long to get back in the Top 10 or number one in the world

She's chasing her fourth French Open title and her 24th Grand Slam title of her career.   But the terracotta clay courts of Stade Roland Garros are not her best surface, and as of yet she hasn't demonstrated she's back at playing Serena level tennis.

To add to the challenge she's facing, she's unseeded in this tournament and will start first round play against Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic.   Should she successfully clear that match, she'll face the winner of the Ashleigh Barty- Natalia Vikhlyantseva match.

Some of the seeded players in Little Sis' section of the bracket includes number 6 seeded Karolina Pliskova,   number 11 seed Juliana Gorges, number 17 seed Ashleigh Barty and number 28 seeded Maria Sharapova   

But never underestimate Serena.   The French Open also has a pattern of many of the major seeds falling in the first two rounds.  If that pattern repeats itself and Serena is still standing as we reach Saturday, don't bet against holding up another Coupe Suzanne Lenglen when the tournament concludes on June 10 

Speaking of Top 10 players, one of them is her sister Venus Williams.  Big Sis is ranked number 9 in the WTA rankings, just above number 10 Sloane Stephens as she and Little Sis prepare for their business trip to Paris. 

Venus is also in search of her first French Open title since 2002.   She will start first round play against Qiang Wang of China.   If she handles her tennis business, she'll face in the second round the winner of the Petra Marcic-Yafan Wang match.

Venus is also in the bottom half section of the draw that contains number 5 seed and 2017 French Open defending champ Jelena Ostapenko, number 22 seeded Johanna Konta, number 26 seeded Barbora Strycova and unseeded Yulia Putintseva and Victoria Azarenka. 

The Williams sisters will also play doubles in Paris, having been granted a wildcard entry into the doubles tournament.   They have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, with two of them occurring at the French Open in 1999 and 2010. 

The last time they played doubles at the French Open they fell in the third round in 2016 and in the first round in 2013. 

We'll see how they fare on this business trip to Paris in the singles and doubles draw.   

2018 Williams Watch- Gone From The Australian Open

The first tennis major of the year is finally here, and neither Williams sister is in it.

As y'all already know, Serena gave birth to her daughter Alexis back in September, and had targeted the Australia Open as her time to return to competitive tennis.

But after entering a warm up tournament Down Under and not playing up to her exacting standards. she and her coach decided it would be better for her to spend more time on the practice court getting up to Serena level, and withdrew from the Australian Open. 

That left number five in the world ranked Venus to rep the Williams family tennis honor in Melbourne.   She came into this tournament having had a wonderful 2017 season, played in two Grand Slam finals (Australian, Wimbledon and the WTA Finals and was seeded fifth.

Unfortunately fifth seeded Big Sis was one of the eight players who went down in the opening round of the Australian Open.  She fell in straight sets to Belinda Bencic 3-6, 5-7.   Benci herself was upset in the next round.

Oh well, sad to see that Venus' work week in Melbourne was a short one.   See y'all in Paris for the French Open. 

And hope Serena is there as well.

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!