We hope you've enjoyed our coverage of the fourth round match between the Williams sisters. This is Mariam Khan, signing off.
Serena says that it never gets easier playing her sister on Centre Court, and counts her consistent serving today as the winning factor. Besides serving however, her consistent groundstroke hits and baseline play was absolutely sublime, and something she can take as a huge confidence booster into the quarterfinals. She will play the winner of Victoria Azarenka and Belinda Bencic.
A truly exquisite and dominating performance from the younger sister. She came through in straight sets despite many counting on a three set match. She hit ten aces and an incredible thirty-six winners!
Game, set, and match to Serena! Venus hits her shot long and the sisters hug it out at the net.
0-40. Venus hits a double fault and Serena has three match points.
0-30. Serena is too powerful with her flat shots and Venus hits her backhand into the net.
0-15. Venus loses the point.
Ace. Game to Serena! She leads 5-3.
40-15. Serena's forehand goes wide.
40-0. Two amazing serves from Serena.
15-0. Serena hits a backhand winner.
Serena breaks on a Venus double fault! A shame as she had saved five break points before the mishap.
40-Adv. Incredible backhand winner for Serena!
Deuce. Another lovely serve!
30-40. Venus saves one with a great serve.
15-40. A passing shot winner from Serena. She has two break points!
15-30. Serena puts her foot down, hits a hefty backhand down the line winner.
15-15. A return error from Serena.
0-15. Winner from the younger one.
Game to Serena! It's 3-3.
40-30. Serena takes the point right from Venus with an insane forehand winner.
30-30. Incredible rally! Venus hits a cross court forehand winner.
30-15. Lovely volley winner from Venus.
30-0. Another one.
15-0. Serena forces an error with a great serve.
Game for Venus! She's doing tremendously to gain a foothold in the match. Can she make a comeback?
40-15. A dominating point from Venus.
30-15. Lovely serve down the line from Venus.
15-15. Serena hits a return winner.
15-0. Venus wins the point.
Game to Serena. Incredible serve and forehand combination. It's 2-2.
40-15. Serena hits her forehand into the net.
40-0. A lovely serve from Serena.
30-0. Venus' forehand goes long.
15-0. Backhand winner from Serena.
Serena to serve at 1-2.
An intense game comes to a close with Venus holding her serve as Serena hits her shot long. Venus is doing well with going for risky shots on pivotal points—it is truly paying off as she remains in the match.
Adv-40. Venus hits a great serve.
Deuce. Venus does well to save break point with a smash.
40-Adv. Serena hits another return winner!
Deuce. An incredible rally ends with Serena completely wrongfooting her sister with her forehand shot.
40-30. Serena's return goes out.
30-30. Serena dumps her forehand into the net.
15-30. An insane return winner from Serena again.
15-15. Serena hits an early return winner after losing the first point.
Game for Serena as she hits a 116mph ace!
40-15. A backhand winner from the younger that touches the baseline.
30-15. Serena hits a forehand inside out winner. The level of play is at high intensity right now.
15-15. An amazing forehand cross court winner from Venus!
15-0. What a point! Serena ultimately hits the backhand winner.
Venus holds! Serena's return goes wide.
Adv-40. A lovely serve for the elder.
Deuce. What a point by Venus! Both play their backhands and Venus hits the ultimate winner.
30-40. Venus saves one.
15-40. Two break point opportunities for Serena.
15-30. Another inside out forehand winner from the younger one.
15-15. Serena hits an unforced error.
0-15. A ruthless forehand winner from Serena starts off proceedings in the second.
Serena's been way too dominating on her serve, barely losing focus whilst Venus has been unable to keep her unforced error count down. She will have to regroup if she wants to make a comeback in the match. Venus will serve first in the second.
With yet another ace, Serena takes the first set 6-4!
40-15. An incredible forehand winner down the line from Venus.
40-0. Another ace!
30-0. Another great serve. Venus can only watch.
15-0. A great serve from Serena.
Game! Incredible rally from Venus as she forces Serena off the court to hit an inside out forehand winner. Serena still leads 5-4 and will now serve for the first set.
Adv-40. Venus hits the corner of the court with her forehand winner.
Deuce. Venus tries to take the ball early but hits it into the net.
40-30. Double fault.
40-15. A good serve from Venus forces another error out of Serena.
30-15. Venus forces her sister's error.
15-15. Serena's return goes long.
0-15. Venus misses her smash.
Game to Serena as she ruthlessly hits her backhand volley winner!
40-30. Serena hits a 119mph serve to get game point.
30-30. Venus' backhand goes out, though it was close.
15-30. Venus' attacking return causes Serena to hit her backhand into the net.
15-15. An absolutely crazy return winner from Venus!
15-0. Ace!
Venus holds, but she will need to find a way to move around the court better and stop the leakage of errors if she wants to break Serena back again.
40-30. A lovely volley winner from Venus.
30-30. Serena forces Venus to hit the error as the latter goes off balance.
30-15. Serena dumps her return into the net.
15-15. Serena follows it up with an identical winner of her own.
15-0. An amazing cross court forehand winner from Venus.
Game to Serena. A very formidable and easy hold for her. She leads 4-2.
40-0. Some easy points here for Serena.
15-0. Venus returns her backhand long.
Another unforced error causes Serena to break once again. The younger sister leads 3-2.
15-40. Venus looks a little out of sorts as she hits another unforced error into the net.
15-30. Venus dumps her forehand into the net.
15-15. Some huge hitting from both goes in favor of the elder.
0-15. Venus hits her forehand wide.
Venus breaks back! Her incredible return causes Serena to hit an unforced error. We're at 2-2.
40-Adv. Another breakpoint for Venus as Serena hits her backhand into the net.
Deuce. Serena saves it with a forehand winner.
30-40 as Venus' shot clips the net cord and Serena misses her volley. Break point!
30-30 as Serena's forehand goes long.
30-15. An incredible inside out forehand winner from Venus!
30-0. Outwide serve from Serena draws Venus' error out.
15-0 as Serena hits a backhand cross court winner.
Game! Venus holds with a lovely serve.
Adv-40. Venus retaliates with a winner of her own.
Deuce. Venus comes up to the net but Serena hits an incredible passing shot winner.
Adv-40. Venus hits an ace!
Deuce. Serena hits a tremendous outwide forehand winner.
40-30. She follows it up with a double fault.
40-15. Venus hits two good serves.
15-15. Serena's flat play is forcing Venus to hit too many errors.
15-0. Venus wins her first point with a good serve.
Game to Serena as Venus hits her forehand long. The former is 2-0 up already.
40-0. Serena's serving is on point.
30-0. Another great serve draws an error out from Venus.
15-0. Serena starts her serving with an ace!
Serena breaks as Venus dumps her forehand into the net!
0-40. An amazing return ace gives Serena three break point opportunities.
0-30. Another forehand error costs Venus.
0-15. A great rally to start the match but Venus' forehand goes long.
The match between the two sisters will shortly begin on Centre Court. Venus Williams won the toss and will be serving first.
The players have arrived on court for their warm up.
The sisters of course, have nothing but respect for each other. "I expect more people to be rooting for Venus. I would be rooting for Venus," is what Serena had to say about the match up. Venus echoed similar sentiments with, "I'll probably be cheering for her. No matter what she's been through, she's never complained."
Therefore, even though most would have considered Serena the heavy favorite at the beginning of the tournament, it is Venus who has stayed more mentally resolute in her matches, but Serena’s strength cannot be excused due to one bad match. If both sisters go in with all guns blazing, as we will expect them to, the clash will be an epic. Serena can either move one step closer to cementing her place even further into tennis history, or Venus could snatch the Serena Slam away from her. Who better to dethrone Serena in one of the primes of her career than Venus herself?
It is still Serena who has the advantage on the sisters’ head to head however, with fourteen wins as compared to Venus’ eleven, but it was Venus who won their last meeting in Montreal last year. When we look at their grass court head to head, the sisters have played each other at Wimbledon a total of five times, and it is a pretty even 3-2 in Serena’s favor. What is even more mind boggling is that both of them have won five Wimbledon trophies each, a remarkable feat for both as individuals as well as a duo.
The first set of the match will be pivotal, as in their twenty-five previous meetings, the sister who managed to clinch the first set would go on to win the match a total of twenty-one times.
It is tremendous to see that even after returning from the unfortunate autoimmune disease she was diagnosed with, Venus Williams has managed to make a slow but steady recovery into the WTA’s top-twenty, and now is a worthy challenger to go up against the world number one. She will not be intimidated in any way, as she has beaten the number one ranked player before a total of fourteen times, and twice before when it was Serena herself.
And if anything, Venus is in even better form than her more decorated younger sister if we are to judge by just her performance in Wimbledon. She has come through the three rounds with three perfect straight set victories. Her first round match was a whopping double bagel, against Madison Brengle whilst her second—against Yulia Putintseva—was a tougher match that ended in a 7-6(5), 6-4 victory. Her third, against youngster Serb Aleksandra Krunic, was an impressive 6-3, 6-2 win.
Thus, even the invincible Serena is not so invincible sometimes, and Venus may just have watched her sister’s third round match to look for signs of weakness. If Serena goes through a similar mental barrier in her fourth round match as she did in her third, Venus will be more than capable of capitalizing the situation to her advantage a lot more than Watson did. If there is one person who knows Serena’s game as much as she does, it is truly her sister Venus.
It was her third round match against Heather Watson which has sparked the most debate and response from the public. After winning the first set with relative ease and a 6-2, Serena lost footing in the second heated set as she got broken multiple times by her spirited opponent. She was also two breaks down in the decider, letting the crowd and Watson get to her, hitting thirteen unforced errors. She got over her scare though, with sheer will and determination, ultimately taking the set 7-5.
Wimbledon has mostly been a different story. Her first and second round matches against Margarita Gasparyan and Timea Babos respectively had identical scorelines of 6-4, 6-1, with the world number one showcasing extremely dominating performances to oust her opponents. She faced only minor issues in those matches, dealing with them strongly.
Almost remains a keyword in this, because she faced hardships in the French Open, losing first sets and having to make comebacks in more matches of hers than she would have liked. She also found herself having to make a comeback in the final against Lucie Safarova as she was breaks down in the deciding set, but through holding her nerve, made it through.
Serena Williams comes into the match with a lot more going in her favor, this being a result of her holding the number one ranking for so many preceding months. At thirty-three years old, she is still playing some exceedingly tremendous tennis, remaining head and shoulders above the rest of the WTA and going for her second Serena Slam. She has been the overwhelming favorite to win Wimbledon this year, and for good reason. The only match she has lost in 2015 was against Petra Kvitova in the Mutua Madrid Open. Besides that one bump in the road, she has been almost invincible.
It is indeed the clash we have all been waiting for: the Williams sisters are going to battle it out on Centre Court for the twenty-sixth time in their careers. As soon as the draws for the most prestigious tournament of the year were out, most people were calculating the roads of these players and eyeing this match up as an extremely exciting prospect. Despite a hefty scare in the form of Heather Watson during Serena’s third round match, both ladies have reached the second week and are ready for their battle.
Hello, this is Mariam Khan here with you to cover the Wimbledon women's round of sixteen live between Serena Williams and Venus Williams. Stay tuned for the preview of the upcoming match as well as point-by-point updates during it.