Venus and Serena Williams after a first-round women’s doubles win at Wimbledon on June 30.
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An all-williams final is looking likely, after top seed Serena, beat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 6-4.
Vesnina completely dominated against Cibulkova, who appeared to run out of energy after a successful run that began with winning the Eastbourne title ahead of Wimbledon.
Five-time champion Venus, seeded eight, enjoyed a 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory over Kazakhstan’s world number 96 Yaroslava Shvedova to reach her first Wimbledon semi-final in seven years.
Meanwhile, Elena Vesnina will face Serena Williams in the last four after skipping past Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-2. “She’s a real fighter”, Serena said about Venus, the oldest woman in a major semifinal since 1994, when Martina Navratilova was 37 at Wimbledon.
Furthermore, Venus must set the tone early and win in two sets.
VENUS Williams recorded a straight sets victory over Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova on day eight at Wimbledon increasing the chances of an all Williams final on Centre Court on Saturday.
She got the decisive break at 4-4 in the first – a break to love – and made the breakthrough at the identical point in the second set. “Hopefully I can play a few more matches here”, she said.
There was no way back for the considerable underdog, and her foe was back in the final four and dreaming of a sixth Wimbledon singles crown – which would match Serena’s tally.
“We are playing doubles later so we are just so glad to both get through to the semi-finals”, Williams said.
Venus Williams may have never doubted she would feature in the latter stages of a grand slam again but, on the eve of this fortnight in southwest London, tennis onlookers – with justification – had different views.
“I’m not as tall as all the other players”, she said, “so it’s unusual that I have such a strong, hard serve”. “Like I always say, it’s super inspiring for me”. “You can’t always have this big moment”.
There wasn’t a whole lot by way of entertainment on the No. 1 Court, but Venus showed that she was not just motivated but still passionate about the game too, even if her face rarely reflects that sort of enthusiasm. “When you’re winning matches it makes it that much sweeter. I don’t think I’ll be here, but we’ll see”.
She lost a three-set gruel of a U.S. Open semifinal in 2010 to Kim Clijsters, just one of many former opponents long since retired.
The complete panic that crippled Williams during her loss in the Australian Open final and left her headlessly sprinting to the net was testament to the unreasonable levels of pressure on her shoulders as she tries to cross that line to number 22.
Venus has since progressed through five rounds and as she prepares to play Angelique Kerber for a place in her 15th grand-slam singles final, the statement seems nearly prophetic.
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Serena is known as one of the fiercest competitors to ever play any sport. “I knew I had a tough opponent and one thing I have learnt this year is just to focus on the match”.
