Nigerian Women Bobsledders Make Olympic History

The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea will start on February 9, and the sports junkie I am will definitely be tuned into the action from that date until they conclude on February 25.

Hopefully Kim Jong Fool Un will behave himself while the world's athletes are on the other side of the DMZ from North Korea  .

As has been proven in the United States, track athletes have been majorly successful in crossing over and reinvigorating the US bobsled program.   Vonetta Flowers earned a gold medal in the two woman bobsled competition in Salt Lake City in 2002,  and the 2014 Sochi bobsled team was composed of five Black women including Summer Olympic gold medalist Lauryn Williams and Lolo Jones 

Now in a shades of Cool Runnings Jamaican bobsled team story,  three US based Nigerian women track athletes have made history by being the first continental African team to qualify a sled in the Winter Olympics.

Driver and team captain Seun Adigun and brakewomen Akuoma Omeoga and Ngozi Onwumere are also the first Nigerians to ever qualify for the Winter Olympics, and did much of it on their own. 

Adigun competed as a sprinter for Nigeria at the 2012 Summer Games in London and got the idea to compete in the Winter Games while watching on television the success the 2014 USA women's bobsled team had in Sochi powered largely by US track athletes

She convinced fellow US based track athletes Omeoga and Onwumere to join her, and Adigun built a wooden sled for the trio to practice with they dubbed 'the Mayflower' until they could purchase a bobsled.   Adigun raised $75,000, including $50,000 from a single anonymous donor of a stated goal of $150,000/ 

That was enough to get attention and support from the Nigerian Olympic Committee, for a Nigerian Bobsled and Skeleton Federation to form and for the trio to get a chance to practice on ice. They have since that time obtained corporate sponsorships from Under Armour and Visa

To qualify, the trio had to drive their sled through five runs on three different bobsled tracks in Utah, and at Whistler and Calgary which they successfully completed in November by finishing fifth.

This is a huge milestone for sports in Nigeria," Adigun told ESPN. "Nothing makes me prouder than to know that I can play a small role in creating opportunities for winter sports to take place in Nigeria." 

"Our objective now is to be the best representation of Africa that the Winter Olympics has ever witnessed," said Adigun.

“I commend the personal dedication and commitment of these women,” Nigerian Bobsled and Skeleton Federation President Solomon Ogba told ESPN. “Their hard work was inspiring, and I hope Nigerians can appreciate what it took for them to achieve this — the work, the discipline and the personal sacrifices. They were amazing throughout this journey.” 

While continental African athletes have competed in the Winter Games, as of yet none has stood on a medal podium,

We'll see in a few weeks if this story has a happy ending and ends up at a multiplex near you.

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 .    

Brienne Minor Wins Historic 2017 NCAA Women's Singles Tennis Title

Black history was made on May 29 at the recent NCAA Division I women's tennis championships that were conducted at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. GA.

University of Michigan sophomore Brienne Minor became the first African-American woman ever to win the NCAA Division I women's tennis title   In case you're wondering, the first African-American man to win an NCAA men's singles tennis title was the legendary Arthur Ashe in 1965.

She was the 2014 Illinois state girls singles champion, but in this NCAA women's singles tournament, she was ranked 24th in the nation, and also played with her Michigan teammates in the NCAA Division I team tennis championships that started in Athens back on May 18.   .

Michigan advanced to the Round of 16, beating Youngstown State and Kentucky before being eliminated by national finalist runner-up Stanford.

When the NCAA women's singles tourney started on May 24, the unseeded Minor faced the task of having to win six matches in six days to get to the finals of the 2017 NCAA women's tourney while battling tendinitis in her knees.

Minor was also in the section of the bracket that contained the number one seed Francesca Di Lorenzo of Ohio State.and was facing in the opening round the woman who ended her 2016 NCAA women's tournament run in Miami's Sinead Lohan.

It took her three sets, but she beat Lohan 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to jumpstart her title run. Di Lorenzo was surprisingly upset in the opening round by Pepperdine's Mayar Sharif Ahmad, and Minor knocked her off in straight sets in the Round of 16 on her way to the finals .

Minor would face Florida senior and tournament sixth seed Belinda Woolcock  The Aussie was playing her last match as a Gator and had only dropped one set on her way to the championship finals.  She also wanted to add the NCAA women's singles title to the 2017 NCAA team tennis championship she played a huge role in Florida winning over Stanford.

Woolcock played 14 singles and doubles matches over the eleven days of the NCAA Division I tourney with an 11-1 record to help Florida win the NCAA team championship, was named the Most Valuable Player in the NCAA team tournament, and made the all Tournament team in singles and doubles.

But it was Brienne Minor's day and she was on an eight match tournament winning streak at this point. With her family cheering her on, Minor made the admittedly tired Woolcock run all over the court as she raced out to a 4-0 first set lead before Woolcock broke her serve to finally get on the first set scoreboard.

Woolcock gave the service break back to stoke Minor to a 5-1 first set lead and won the next two games to close to 5-3, but dropped her service game to give Minor a one set lead in this NCAA title match.

Minor held serve to begin the second set and jumped out to a 3-1 and 4-2 lead before Woolcock made one last push and closed to 4-3 by blanking Minor with a love service game.   But Minor stormed back by winning the next two to take the set and the 2017 NCAA women's championship in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.

Minor knocked off three players ranked in the top 16 in the nation to earn this historic title, and not only gave Michigan their first ever NCAA women's singles tennis national champion, she made some Black history in the process.

With the win she also earned a wild card entry into the 2017 US Open that begins on August 28

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!
   

Down Goes UConn in Dallas!

This is not an April Fools Day joke.   If you weren't watching the NCAA women's Final Four semifinal game between Mississippi State and UConn from Dallas, you missed a historic game.

UConn was on a 111 game winning steak and playing for a shot at their fifth straight NCAA title against a team that they beat by 60 points last year in Mississippi State.

But this year's UConn squad lost four seniors from that title team, and Mississippi State was fueled by that embarrassing for them 60 point loss to have an amazing 2016-17 season.    

After Mississippi State knocked off Baylor to get another shot at Goliath, no one in the country expected them to win this game.

But the Bulldogs had other ideas, and they raced out to a 36-28 halftime lead before UConn clawed their way back into it. The Bulldogs had a shot at winning it in regulation, but Morgan William's attempt to hit the streak busting shot was blocked by Gabby Williams to preserve the tie and send the game to overtime.

Morgan William got another chance to hit a game winning shot and this time she didn't miss.

66-64 Bulldogs.   And fittingly the smallest player on the floor slayed the basketball Goliath that is UConn
     
 .


Oh well, I got half of this year's women's title game right.

Mississippi State has taken down might UConn to set up an all-SEC final with South Carolina.   Do they have one more upset in them?  

We'll see on Sunday

Moni's 2017 NCAA Women's B-Ball Bracket

Unlike the NCAA men's tourney, I've had a lot better results (6-3) picking the champion in the NCAA women's tournament ranks.  Then again, when you're dealing with the sustained excellence of the UConn women (107 wins and counting) it's a huge upset and a major news story when they don't win a game or make it to the Final Four.

In 2008 I started doing a bracket for the NCAA women's tournament in honor of Women's History Month and frankly because I believed the lady collegiate ballers needed some love and March Madness attention on this blog as well.

These are my 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 , 2014 and 2015 TransGriot NCAA women's tournament brackets.here 

In 2016 I only got one of the Women's Final Four teams correct, but it was the eventual champion in UConn.  But in 2015 I correctly predicted the title game, and I've also correctly picked all four women's NCAA Final Four teams in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2015.
Like I said, I do a better job on the NCAA women's tournament.

So now it's time to see who are going to be the last four teams standing when they get to American Airlines Center in Dallas on March 31 and who will be playing in the women's title game on April 2

Will UConn win their fifth straight title, 12th overall  and complete their seventh perfect season?     Or will somebody in this field pull off the upset for the ages?

We're about to find out starting in a few hours.

Bridgeport Regional
First Round .
Connecticut, Iowa State, Texas A&M, UCLA, West Virginia, Maryland, Temple, Duke

Second Round
Connecticut, Texas A&M, Maryland, Duke

Sweet 16
Connecticut, Maryland

Bridgeport Regional Champ
Connecticut

Oklahoma City Regional
First Round
Baylor, LSU, Tennessee, Louisville, Oklahoma, Washington, DePaul, Mississippi State

Second Round
Baylor, Louisville, Oklahoma, Mississippi State

Sweet 16
Baylor, Oklahoma

Oklahoma City Regional Champ
Baylor

Lexington Regional 
First Round
Notre Dame, Purdue, Ohio State, Kentucky, North Carolina State, Texas, Kansas State, Stanford

Second Round
Notre Dame, Kentucky, Texas, Stanford

Sweet 16
Notre  Dame, Stanford

Lexington Regional Champ
Stanford

Stockton Regional
First Round
South Carolina, Arizona State, Marquette, Miami (FL), Missouri, Florida State, Creighton, Oregon State

Second Round
South Carolina, Marquette, Missouri, Oregon State

Sweet 16
South Carolina, Missouri

Stockton Regional Champ
South Carolina

Final Four Connecticut  Baylor, Stanford,  South Carolina

Championship Game
Connecticut, South Carolina

2017 NCAA Women's Champion
Connecticut

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.  

Ronda Rousey Gets Knocked The F---- Out Again

You TransGriot readers know I'm not a fan of WMMA transphobe Ronda Rousey, and gleefully did the happy dance when Holly Holm knocked her the f**k out with 'The Kick Heard Round The World' during UFC 193 in Melbourne, Australia.  

When she crashed to the canvas after that kick, it was not only her first loss after 12 straight wins, but her air of invincibility also crashed with it.

Last night Rousey got in the octagon after a layoff of over a year since that November 2015 fight.   She was taking on current bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes of Brazil in a controversial  UFC 207 main event bout in Las Vegas that would be a crossroads fight for her.

It was controversial because back in October, Julianna Pena, pissed off because as the number #3 ranked UFC bantamweight fight with an 8-2 record and 4-0 in UFC competition, felt she got bypassed for the title shot against Nunes she believed she'd earned.

Pena sounded off about her unhappiness with being bypassed.

Never in the history have I ever heard of somebody have a no-controversy brutal knockout, then quit the sport, and then comeback and get a title shot right away. The girl is mentally weak and Amanda Nunes is going to f--king knock her out and expose her ass. She's literally the worst fighter on the roster, and I can't stomach the fact that I'm not getting the title shot.
-Julianna Pena, October 12, 2016

Rousey getting paid $3 million for this bout while the champ Nunes got $100,000 probably added to Pena's pissivity about being bypassed at well.

The cash Rousey got paid along with the media attention the challenger was getting probably pissed off Amanda Nunes as well.

Pena looks like Jeane Dixon now, because it only took the now 14-4 Brazilian champ 48 seconds of the first round and serving up a steady diet of punches to Rousey's face to send her to her second straight loss via TKO and easily defend her title.

Nunes retains her UFC world bantamweight championship belt, and the loss starts the questions all over again with people who cover the UFC and WMMA about Rousey, her coaches, her approach to this fight and whether she was mentally ready to come back into the Octagon.

Hey,, karma is a you know what.

Congrats to the champ Amanda Nunes for successfully defending her title and giving me an opportunity to do another schadenfreude laden happy dance