Wimbledon, July 06: Serena Williams won a pair of Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon, just like her sister Venus did last year.
Serena added the women’s doubles title to her take at this year’s tournament, teaming with big sister Venus to beat Rennae Stubbs and Samantha Stosur of Australia 7-6(4), 6-4 on Saturday.
It is their fourth Wimbledon title together, part of their haul of nine Grand Slam women’s doubles championships.
“There’s nothing like winning a title with your sister,” said Serena, who has won 11 major singles titles. “It’s really a good feeling.”
“One out of two is not bad,” Venus said. “I really wanted to win the singles, but they’re two separate events. If I won the singles and not the doubles, it’s still not the same.”
Serena, who had earlier downed Venus in straight sets to claim her third Wimbledon singles crown, hit a forehand long to gift the Australians a break in the third game of the first set.
But as the number three seeds held serve to take a 3-1 lead Serena drew on her well-known steely determination, standing hand on hip as she gave her sister a pep talk before the start of the next game.
The fourth-seeded pair, who had dropped a total of just 21 games in their five previous doubles matches in the tournament, fought back hard, hitting every ball with powerful aggression to break 38-year-old Stubbs’ serve and draw level at 4-4.
“They’re a really good team, so they definitely pushed us to play our best tennis on the most important points,” said 29-year-old Venus.
“Even if you’re tired you ignore it, just keep the adrenaline going.”
The five-time singles champion netted a ball to throw away set point at 6-5. But the sisters dominated the tiebreak, with Venus securing a 7-4 win with a volley down the middle of the court.
Their teamwork was solid in the second set, with Serena jumping in to rescue a shot Venus missed before volleying to clinch the pair, who already held eight Grand Slam doubles titles together, a break in the seventh game.
Serving for the match the women’s singles champion sealed her second title of the day with a powerful ace, jumping up in delight before embracing her sister Venus, whose beaming smile eclipsed her earlier disappointment.
Having played a total of over three hours of tennis in Wimbledon finals on Saturday, the double acts were too exhausted to contemplate celebrating their Independence Day victory.
“We’ve had a long day,” said Serena. “We’re just still trying to figure out what we’re going to do.”
Nestor-Zimonjic win
Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia won their second straight Wimbledon men’s doubles title, beating top-seeded American twins Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6(7), 6-7(3), 7-6(3), 6-3.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” Nestor said. “One of the first things I noticed was our name on the board, on the big plaque. Now we get it twice. It’s obviously going to be special to come back next year and see that.”
This year’s final marked the first time that Nestor and Zimonjic have played the Bryan brothers in a Grand Slam tournament.
— Agencies