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

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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.

2012 Williams Watch-'Willliams'-don First Round Mixed Results

'The Championships' is what they call this tennis Grand Slam tournament on the other side of The Pond, and I call it 'Williams-don' for the way that my fave tennis playing siblings have dominated it.

Wimbledon started Monday with five time Wimbledon champion Big Sis playing a first round match against 79th ranked Russian Elena Vesnina.   Venus hadn't lost a match in the first round in any Grand Slam tournament in six and a half years or at the All-England Club since her debut season in 1997, but she fell to Vesnina 1-6, 2-6 as the 32 year old continues her recovery from Sjogren's Syndrome.

"I am a great player. Unfortunately, I had to deal with circumstances that people don't normally have to deal with in this sport. But I can't be discouraged by that. .. There's no way I'm just going to sit down and give up just because I have a hard time the first five or six freakin' tournaments back."

Venus did  make the Olympic team and plans to be back for the London Games tournament that will be played at the All England Club.  
Meanwhile sixth seeded Little Sis' first round got off to a better start after her shocking first round upset loss at the French Open last month. 

Serena kicked off her quest for her 4th 'Williams'don title and her first major title in two years by dispatching the Czech Republic's Barbora Zahlavova Strycova  6-2, 6-4 in a match that took her only 1 hour and 20 minutes to play with the first set taking only 29 minutes. 

Serena faces Hungary's Melinda Czink in the second round..

2012 Williams Watch-Short Stay In Paris

The French Open is being contested at Stade Roland Garros this week and next, but unfortunately my favorite tennis playing siblings are out of this tournament.

Out of all the Grand Slam tournaments, the French Open has been the one Venus and Serena have had the most problems with in terms of winning it.  Serena has 13 Grand Slam titles, but only has won on Roland Garros' clay courts once in her career in 2002, and she beat Big Sis to get it.  

Little Sis was looking for her second French Open title while Venus has never won it.

They won't win it this year either because their inexplicable Roland Garros troubles continued in 2012.

Serena took a 46-0 career record in opening round Grand Slam tournament matches into this tournament and was 17-0 on clay this season nut but fifth seeded Little Sis shockingly lost to French homegirl Virginie Razzano 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 3-6 Tuesday.

She was two points from victory several times in the second set, including leading 5-1 in the second set tiebreaker. But Razzano won six straight points to force a third set, and then took control of the match.

"I made so many errors today, which isn't the game I was playing in the past," Serena said. "That's life."

Venus had better luck, ousting her first round opponent but on Wednesday Big Sis was ousted by third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in straight sets 2-6, 3-6 in her first major tournament since the announcement she has Sjogren's Syndrome.

Despite the loss, Venus will qualify for the US women's Olympic tennis team is she is still one of the top four ranked US women by June 11, the end of this French Open and is sitting in the fourth spot now    Serena is comfortably ensconced as the highest ranked US woman in the tennis world rankings, so her London spot is secured.

The next major before the 2012 Games is their favorite tournament.which will also be the tennis venue for the upcoming games in 'Williams'-don         

2012 Williams Watch- Serena To Fourth Round

Serena Williams may only be a 12th seed in this year's edition of the Australian Open, but as the other women in this draw know, when she's healthy and playing well she's a threat to win any tournament, especially if it's a Grand Slam one.

Serena didn't waste any time in her third round match with Greta Arn of Hungary.  It took her only 59 minutes to blitz through it in straight sets 6-1, 6-1 and move on to her fourth round matchup with Ekaterina Makarova of Russia. 

And Williams haters, she's the last American of either gender left in the singles draw of this tournament, so how you like her now?

2012 Williams Watch- Serena's Milestone Win Takes Her To Third Round

There was good news and bad news for Little Sis on her business trip Down Under.  First the bad news.

Serena's mixed doubles partner Andy Roddick pulled a hamstring muscle during his second round match with Australia's Lleyton Hewitt in which he was trailing 6-3,3-6,.4-6 and had to retire.    

Serena and Andy Roddick are considering entering the mixed doubles competition in the London Games and wanted to use this tournament to get some practice time together.   

Now the good news.  She breezed past Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-0, 6-4 to earn her 500th career match win to send her to the Australian Open's third round.

It was Little Sis' 16th consecutive match win at Melbourne Park and her career match record is 500-104.  In case you're wondering Venus' career match record is 589-147.

Next up is Hungary's Greta Arn

2012 Williams Watch- Serena Wins First Round Aussie Open Match

Two weeks into a new year and another professional tennis season gets started with the first Grand Slam  tournament of the year kicking off Down Under.

It's the 2012 edition of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Big Sis is still trying to recover from the auto immune ailment she's suffering from.  She thought she'd be ready to play for the Open but was forced to withdraw. 

She plans to be ready to resume playing next month with an eye towards getting ready for the French Open, Wimbledon, and defending the doubles gold medal she and Little Sis won in Beijing in 2008. 

That leaves Little Sis to uphold Williams family honor and attempt to win her sixth Australian Open singles title after not being able to defend her 2010 singles title due to foot surgery that was problematic in healing. 

She's currently number 12 in the WTA rankings and is also entered in the mixed doubles with Andy Roddick as her partner.  They'll play number one seeds Kveta Peschke and Mike Bryan when that tournament starts.

12th seeded Serena started off Aussie Open singles play with a 6-3, 6-2 straight set victory over Austria's Tamira Paszek that took her 79 minutes to complete in large part to those 12 aces she served in this match to go along with the 34 winners she hit.

Her second round opponent is Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, who was a quarterfinalist in last year's US Open.

Serena had a pattern going in which starting in 2003, she'd won the Aussie Open in odd numbered years and back to back after her 2009 win.

I'm hoping she's back to her Grand Slam winning ways in 2012, and this would be a nice place to start.

2011 Williams Watch-Serena To The Finals!

The US open women's semifinal match with world number one ranked player Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark was supposed to be a tough test for Serena Williams, who hasn't dropped a set in this tournament. 

But when Serena is on a roll like she is in this tournament, it doesn't matter who is the opponent is or what her seeding is as she steamrolled the top seeded Wozniacki in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 to move to just a win away from her 14th Grand Slam title and her first US Open title since 2008.

"I'm still No. 1 in the ranking and still No. 1 in the race," Wozniacki said. "No one can take that away from me right now. Serena played great today. She's a great champion and I wish her well."

Yeah, but how long are you going to hold that Number one ranking Caroline, especially since you can't seem to win a Grand Slam tournament in the process?  

28th seeded Little Sis will face number 9 seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia in a few hours.   She beat Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-3,2-6, 6-2 to reach her second Grand Slam tournament final.   Stosur also has the not so fond memory of being beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Serena in straight sets last month in the Toronto Cup final.

Serena is not only 18-0 on hardcourts this year, she has a 4-2 series lead in matches played against Stosur.   

Should be fun to watch.   Go Serena!

2011 Williams Watch-Next....

Serena Williams is on a roll right now and has yet to drop a set in this 2011 US Open tournament.  . 

Even when she got off to a slow start against number 17 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia and gave away three games, she still took only 79 minutes to win in straight sets 7-5, 6-1 to power into the semifinals for the first time since 2009.

But awaiting her is the current world number one ranked player and tournament number one seeded  Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark   She won her quarterfinal match against tenth seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-1, 7-6 (7-5).

Wozniacki is about to find out if she's worthy of that ranking in a few hours.


The other semifinal will pit Number nine seed Samantha Stosur of Australia, who Serena recently beat in a tournament in Toronto and unseeded Angelique Kerber of Germany.

Go Serena Go!

2011 Williams Watch-Serena To The Quarters

Little Sis is on a mission to take her first US Open title since 2008.   The 28th seeded Serena moved on to the quarterfinals after a 6-3, 6-4 straight set victory over 16th seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.in a windy Arthur Ashe Stadium with Spike Lee in attendance.    
The wind wreaked havoc on ball tosses for both players, but Serena eventually got control of the match and closed it out with four straight serves clocked between 99-111 mph.

It's the ninth time she's reached the US open quarterfinals.  Serena hasn't dropped a set in this tournament and is now 16-0 on hardcourts (including the titles at Stanford and Toronto) despite the limited mount of playing time she's had this year due to injuries and illness.

She'll face 17th seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in the quarters and should she continue her winning ways will face the Petkovic-Wozniacki winner in the semis. 

Donald Young-Another Reason I'm Watching The US Open

Y'all know I'm keeping up with my fave tennis playing siblings and I play the game myself when I can find an opponent. 

While flipping through the TV channels yesterday I stumbled across a men's US Open match that grabbed my attention because of the young tennis playing brother in it.

He is 22 year old Donald Young, Jr.  He was born in Chicago to tennis playing parents and was considered a tennis prodigy.  The left handed Young was at one time the number one ranked junior player in the world but has had an up and down career since turning pro in 2004.   

I got to watch him finish off the third set in front of a raucous partisan crowd as he beat 24th seeded Argentinan Juan Ignacio Chela in straight sets 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 to move on to the US Open men's singles fourth round   It also marks the first time since 2003 that four American men have reached the fourth round and the deepest that Young has gone in a Grand Slam tournament. 

Young's next match is a clash with tournament 4th seed Andy Murray of Great Britain. .If Young survives that match he'll play the winner of the John Isner-Gilles Simon match in the quarterfinals.  

He's also on the same side of the US open bracket with Spain's Rafael Nadal.   

But the question many tennis fans are asking is are we finally seeing the birth of an American men's tennis player who can challenge the dominance of the European superstars like Nadal,  Federer and now Djokovic?

Only time will tell.

2011 Williams Watch-On To The Fourth Round

Serena's third round match yesterday against fourth seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus was a tale of two sets.  It took her 17 minutes to race to a 5-0 lead and 28 total minutes of work to comfortably breeze through the first set  

The second set was a different story as it took an hour and twenty-two minutes to play..

In the second set Azarenka fought her tooth and nail.  She survived three match points in the ninth game, broke Serena's serve in the next game and eventually forced a tiebreaker.  Little Sis eventually triumphed 6-1,7-6 (7-5) despite struggling with her serve for most of the day.  

Serena only got 49% of her first serves in for the match, but whacking 12 aces and hitting 39 winners will take you a long way in determining who wins and who loses in a closely fought match filled with high quality shots from both sides..  But Serena's task of surviving this match and moving on was accomplished and served notice that despite been seeded 28th, she is one of the favorites to win this edition of the US Open and capture her 14th title.

She moves on to the fourth round and a match with Serbia's Ana Ivanovic.

2011 Williams Watch-Good Tennis News, Bad Health News

First, the bad health news concerning my fave tennis playing siblings.   Venus withdrew from the 2011 edition of the US Open minutes before she was to play Germany's Sabine Lisicki after announcing she was diagnosed with Sjögren's Syndrome.

“I enjoyed playing my first match here,” Venus said, “and wish I could continue, but right now I am unable to. I am thankful I finally have a diagnosis and am now focused on getting better and returning to the court soon.”

The good tennis news is that Little Sis is still playing and still one of the favorites to win the 2011 US Open women's singles title.  She took only 49 minutes to blitz through her second round 6-0, 6-1 straight set win over Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands.  

Serena's third round opponent promises to be a little tougher today in fourth seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, but we'll see. 

Speaking of seeing things, I hope that wasn't the last time we will see Venus playing professional tennis or the last time I get to write a post about her tennis playing exploits.. 

2011 Williams Watch-Serena's Starting Fast

It was the first match that Serena has played in New York since that infamous 2009 semifinal, and it didn't last long for the crowd gathered at Arthur Ashe Stadium either.

She's had a tough year injury wise and spent more time recovering from them than playing, but 28th seeded Little Sis took only 56 minutes to execute her 6-1, 6-1 opening round victory over 19 year old Serbian Bojana Jovanowski.  

In the process  she served notice that despite her seeding, she is one of the favorites to win the 2011 US Open women's singles title.

She moves on to her second round match against Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands while Big Sis tackles Sabine Lisicki of Germany in hers..