2013 Williams Watch-Good News Bad News At Roland Garros

The 2013 edition of the French Open started yesterday in Paris and will run through June 9. 

Unlike that Grand Slam tournament on the other side of the English Channel that my fave tennis playing siblings have dominated to the point I call it 'Williams-don', Stade Roland Garros and its clay courts have been a frustrating career long house of horrors for the Williams Sisters.

They have won the French Open doubles title twice in 1999 and 2010, but the only time Big and Little Sis have made it to the French Open singles final was in 2002 when Serena beat Venus in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 for her only French Open singles title to date.

2002 is also the last time that either Williams sister has made it to the finals of the French open women's singles.  Venus has never won a French Open singles title and that streak will sadly continue. 

Stade Roland Garros is also the site of the only first round loss ever for Serena Williams in a Grand Slam tournament when she shockingly lost last year to 111th world ranked qualifier Virginie Razzano of France 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3. 

Number one world ranked and number one seeded Little Sis however sent a message to the 2013 French Open field that she's in it to win it this year by blitzing in 51 minutes her first round opponent Anna Tatishvili of Georgia, 6-0, 6-1.

She faces France's Caroline Garcia in the second round and if you think she isn't pissed about her first round loss here last year or what transpired in Australia back in January, y'all don't know Serena Jameka Williams very well do you?

Unfortunately as I mentioned earlier, Big Sis is done in this 2013 singles tournament.   Venus took 3 hours and 19 minutes to go down fighting to Urszula Radwanska, the baby sis of 4th seeded Agnieszka Radwanska.7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (4-7), 6-4.   Ironically, Agnieszka Radwanska eliminated her from last year's French Open singles tourney in the second round.

But her competitive stay in Paris isn't over because she and Little Sis are playing doubles at Roland Garros.  They are seeded 12th in this French Open doubles competition and are seeking their first doubles title since 2010.

They will start the quest for their third French Open doubles crown with their opening round match with the doubles duo of Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia.  

Here's hoping that on June 9 I'm writing some good news about my fave tennis playing siblings taking home the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen and the Coupe Simone Mathieu. 

FYI in case you're wondering, those are the names of the championship trophies for the French Open women's singles and women's doubles tournaments.

2013 Williams Watch-End Of The Aussie Open Title Chases

The title chases for the Williams sisters Down Under came to a screeching halt in the Australian Open quarterfinals.

In doubles, Big and Little Sis fell to the Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci 6-3, 6-7 (5-7) 5-7 to end their chance to take home their fifth Australian Open doubles crown.. 

Then a few hours later Serena faced rising newcomer Sloane Stephens with a trip to the semis to take on Victoria Azarenka in the balance.

In the first set looked like Little Sis was going to send the 19 year old fellow American to the sidelines, taking only 29 minutes to win the first set 6-3.   But after opening up a 2-0 lead in the second set Stephens began to fight back and live up to her growing rep as 'the next Serena'.   She chased down shots and frequently made successful foray to the net for drop shop winners that kept her in the set and gave her chances to break Serena's serve.

Stephens caught another break with Little Sis leading 4-3 in the second set when Serena suffered a back spasm while trying to avoid running into the net. 

The injury basically took away Serena's formidable serve for several games and allowed Stephens to pounce on it, climb back into the match and take the second set.

Serena started recovering from the back spasm in the third set but by that point young Stephens wasn't intimidated by her idol and stayed close until she broke Serena again for the deciding set win. 

6-3, 5-7, 4-6.  It was the first loss for Serena in a Grand Slam since the 2012 French Open, ended her chance at another Serena Slam, and was the first time she's lost to an American teenage tennis player since 1999.

And for the haters gloating about this loss, all I have to say about it is remember what happened the last time Serena lost in a Grand Slam tournament.   She won Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Open.

See y'all in Paris in May.. 

2013 Williams Watch-Serena To The Aussie Open Quarters

Little Sis' quest for her sixth Australian open singles title is still on track thanks to her fourth round straight set blitzing of 14th seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko.

It took number three seeded Serena less than an hour (57 minutes to be precise) to post her 6-2, 6-0 win and set up an intriguing quarterfinal match up with the woman who is touted in international and US tennis circles as possibly being 'the next Serena'.

She is 19 year old and 29th seeded American Sloane Stephens, and yep, she's a sistah playing in her first Grand Slam tournament.  

Stephens outlasted Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 to set up the match with the woman Stephens described as her childhood idol.   They have already faced each other in Brisbane, a match that Serena won 6-3, 6-4.

But this time it's in the Australian Open quarters, and her idol has not dropped a set in her methodical march to the quarterfinals.

Winner of this match will take on the survivor of the Victoria Azarenka-Svetlana Kuznetsova match.    Azarenka is the defending Aussie Open champion and tournament number one seed while Kuznetsova sent 10th seeded Caroline Wozniacki packing 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.  

Naw, I still haven't forgotten that foul shyt Wozniacki pulled in Brazil.

Ahem, focus Moni.

As I mentioned in a previous Williams Watch report, the sisters are still kicking butt and very much on track in their quest for their fifth Australian Open doubles crown. 

They have yet to drop a set in theis tournament, and the 12th seeded Williams sisters now face in the doubles quarterfinal round the Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci for a spot in the semifinals against the 4th seeded Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.  

2013 Williams Watch-Rolling To The Doubles Quarters

My fave tennis playing siblings are still in the mix for their fifth Australian Open doubles title.

Little Sis and Big Sis are seeded number 12 in the doubles bracket and opened their title pursuit with a 6-3, 6-1 straight set win over Camila Giorgi of Italy and Stefanie Voegle of Switzerland that took only 70 minutes to complete..

They faced in the second round Vera Dushevina of Russia and Olga Gorvortsova of Bulgaria and they were dismissed in straight sets as well 6-1, 6-2 in 76 minutes.

In the doubles third round they faced fifth seeds Nadia Petrova of Russia and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia who took only 74 minutes to fall 6-2, 6-3.  

The Williams sisters now face in the doubles quarterfinal round the Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci for a spot in the semis against the winner of the match between 4th seeded Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina vs Spain's Silvia Soler-Espinosa and Carla Suarez Navarro. 

The Spanish duo punched their quarterfinal ticket by upsetting the 5th seeded team Liezel Huber of the USA and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-4.

The Williams sisters are in position to get their first Australian Open doubles title since 2010, but still have a lot of tennis left to play to get there.

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.

2013 Williams Watch- Australian Open Starts Today

Another tennis season is about to start with the first Grand Slam tournament of the year in the 2013 Australian Open and yep, my fave tennis playing siblings are in it to win it as the haters continue to hate..

It starts today on our side of the International Date line (Monday) in Melbourne and runs through January 26..

Serena finished 2012 on a Grand Slam roll in taking 'Williams'-don, the Olympic singles gold medal and the US Open and teaming with big sis Venus in taking the Wimbledon doubles and defending the Olympic doubles gold medal they won in Beijing. 

Serena starts off the chase for a 2013 calendar year Grand Slam in the best shape of her career, is seeded number 3 in the women's singles tournament and won the Brisbane International warm up tournament earlier this month without dropping a set .  Little Sis starts her quest for her sixth Australian Open title with a first round match against Edina Gallovits-Hall of Romania

Venus starts this 2013 Australian Open in pursuit of her first ever title seeded 25 and with a first round match against Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan.   She made it to the 2003 final but lost 6-7(4-7), 6-3, 4-6 to Little Sis. 

And yes haters, the Williams sisters are playing doubles in this tournament.  They are seeded number 12 on the doubles side and in pursuit of their fifth Aussie Open double crown and first since 2010.  They will take on in their opening round doubles match Camila Giorgi of Italy and Stefanie Voegle of Switzerland 

So good luck ladies, and may y'all have long deep runs in the singles and doubles tournaments. 

Caroline Wozniacki, Stop Hatin' On Serena's Curves

Caroline Wozniacki was doing what she does best on a tennis court and lose to better (and sometimes worse) players than her, but took it to a racist level in Brazil last weekend.  .

During an exhibition match she was playing against Maria Sharapova in Sao Paulo, Brazil she decided to mock tennis star Serena Williams' curvaceous body by stuffing tissues in her breast and butt and waddling around the tennis court. 



Of course, the predominately white crowd thought Wozniacki's antics were hilarious. 

I didn't, and not just because I'm a huge Serena Williams fan.  Michael Arceneaux didn't think it was humorous in this EBONY article and 84% of the people voting in a NewsOne poll at the bottom of the story discussing Wozniacki's problematic stunt didn't think it was funny either. 

And the fact this isn't the first time Wozniacki has mocked Serena that way pisses us off even more. 

Once again this plays into the borderline racist disrespect aimed at the Williams Sisters ever since they have been on the women's professional tennis circuit dominating it and the disrespect aimed at Black women in general for the last 400 years.

To borrow a comment from Michael Arcenaux's article, Black women's bodies are not a joke.  We also take an extremely hard line about any disrespect aimed at Black women in general by white women.

I doubt Caroline will be laughing at the Australian Open next month if she happens to be in the same half of the draw with Little Sis and they are on opposite sides of a tennis court.

Frankly I pray that happens, and Serena pulls out a can of straight set whoop azz for Wozniacki's flat behind.

Caroline, you really need to shop hatin' on Serena's curves because you don't have them, the only way you'll will is pay a plastic surgeon some of your prize money to get them and you don't have a single Grand Slam title to show for your seven years spent as a tennis pro. 

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

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..