WTA Miami - Serena beats Venus to reach final

Eurosport - Sat, 04 Apr 14:50:00 2009

Serena Williams stumbled into the final of the WTA Miami event with a three-set 6-4 3-6 6-3 victory over sister Venus.

Serena Williams of the US reacts after winning a point close to the end of her match against Zheng Jie of China in Miami - 0

It was far from a classic encounter, littered with errors and with neither player able to muster a sustained run of form.

The tournament top-seed looked in command after winning the opening set 6-4 after a slow start from Venus, who notched up a crippling 19 unforced errors in the opening 10 games.

However, Serena's form took a drastic nose-dive in the second set as 18 errors and a number of critical double-faults allowed Venus to take it into a decider.

Serena suddenly upped her game once again and seemed destined to cruise over the finishing line after breaking twice to open up a 4-1 lead.

Venus hit back with a break of her own to put a little pressure on, but despite apparently struggling with a minor injury, Serena closed out the match with a third break.

Serena, who claimed her 10th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, evened her career head-to-head record against her elder sister at 10 wins apiece.

"I definitely knew about it," Serena said of the record. "It's definitely good to even it up. I would love to be in the lead again."

She'll seek a third straight Miami title, and sixth overall, when she tackles 19-year-old Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the final.

The two met in the Australian Open quarter-finals, when a distraught Azarenka retired with a stomach ailment while leading 6-3 2-4.

"She played me really, really tough in Australia," Serena said. "She was not feeling great, but I thought she did a pretty good job."

Serena, a Miami winner on five occasions since 2002, currently shares the record for victories there with German icon Steffi Graf.

"It was a well-fought match," said Venus, who twice double-faulted on break-point. "My serve wasn't going as well as I wanted. But she brought a lot of balls back and played tough."

While Venus was pleased to see the number one ranking staying in the family, that did little to soothe the sting of defeat.

"Even though she's my sister, I'm still here to win the matches," the elder Williams sister said. "I can't give anyone anything. So I'm disappointed that I lost tonight, whether she kept the ranking or not."

But Venus Williams had little doubt her sister could secure a record sixth Miami title.

"Obviously Victoria is talented, but you know, Serena is Serena," Venus said.

AFP / Eurosport

Comment 17 - 36 of 36

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. This one is for u Cameron W[38].......Williams Sisters­ are the thin line between male and female players. They­ possess the power of a low ranking male player with a­ feminine touch to it. They have revolutionized the way­ tennis is being played with their POWER GAME. Try­ returning a 129mph(207kph) thunderbolt serve from Venus­ with finesse touch and see what happens! The Willimas­ Sisters just have the raw talent even drug can't­ achieve. Just be thankful that this is happening in­ your life time.

    From Chukwuemeka, on Sat 4 Apr 1:29PM

  2. Come On Azarenka! You can do it!

    From Marko, on Sat 4 Apr 11:50AM

  3. Vika will take this in three sets.. i belive

    From Igor K, on Sat 4 Apr 10:00AM

  4. But I agree with you... Today there is no place for­ intelligent tennis. It is better to play powerful­ tennis, and if I were tennis coach, I would play POWER­ GAME as well. However, it makes me sad. I'm boring­ with watching matches, where most time players serve.­ That's it. Don't panic people.. I have nothing­ against Wiliams sisters personally.

    From marta.czekaj, on Sat 4 Apr 8:10AM

  5. Hmmmmm, interesting! At the end of the day victory is­ what matters as long as u don't cheat. As for­ Marta.Czekaj[32], i'm sure u have noticed that­ "only hitting the ball" method got Veuns­ Williams a victory againt the "smart playing"­ Radwanska. Only hitting the ball also got her 7 Grand­ Slams. Heck if i'm a coach i'll adapt the­ "only hitting the ball" technique for my­ players. It seems to work.

    From Smoke, on Sat 4 Apr 6:47AM

  6. LMAO @ the Williams Sisters being HISTORY!

    Between­ them, they have won all the GS and major titles since­ Wimbledon last year and Serena is poised to add Miami­ to her illustrious resume tomorrow and they among the­ oldest players in the tour. GO FIGURE!

    History is­ George W Bush ... not The Williams Sisters!!!!!

    From JefriL, on Fri 3 Apr 8:37PM

  7. I like FINESSE (like Smoke P says), SMART tennis.­ Unfortunately, today tennis looses a lot because of­ POWER GAME. The example is match Venus - Radwanska.­ Agnieszka played good, interesting tennis and Venus was­ only hitting the ball. However, I need to agree with­ Smoke P, that such players like Radwanska has not much­ to say today... She can wins only single matches in­ this way but it will be hard for her to stay in game;)­ To all fans of Wiliams sisters: They are History..

    From marta.czekaj, on Fri 3 Apr 8:18PM

  8. It's not a surprise. We all waited that moment in­ Turkey. Good Luck SERENA!!!! You're in history:D

    From batuhan_gok, on Fri 3 Apr 7:48PM

  9. Graf is from an era of finesse game and the Willimas­­ Sisters are from today's POWER GAME. U really­ think­ that finesse can handle a controlled power game?­ If u­ don't know the ask Graf when she struggled­ with Monica­ Seles' power in the early 90s and­ Monica's­ power game can't be compared to the­ Williams­ Sisters.

    From Smoke, on Fri 3 Apr 5:45PM

  10. Graf is from an era of finesse game and the Willimas­ Sisters are from today's POWER GAME. U really think­ that finesse can handle a controlled power game? If u­ don't know the ask Graf when she struggled Monica­ Seles' power in the early 90s and Monica's­ power game can't be compared to the Williams­ Sisters.

    From Smoke, on Fri 3 Apr 5:43PM

  11. hi

    From Smoke, on Fri 3 Apr 5:34PM

  12. You they really should think about retiring. All that­ meat will soom be past its sell by date and nobody will­ want it. They'll just grow old together at the­ Kingdom Hall and spend the rests of their lives­ knocking on doors and annoying people.

    From Phil, on Fri 3 Apr 5:08PM
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Yep, it went right according to plan, as Father Richard­ had told them to play it. Serena swaying back and forth­ on the baseline like Clyde the Urang utang in that­ Clint Eastwood movie and pretending to be burned­ out..All fake. I hope Viktoria is in good shape for the­ final.

    From Phil, on Fri 3 Apr 5:00PM

  14. i want to scrutinise this coming final as i thought­ those who gave the last 16 AO meeting to Vika were­ blinded to the fact that the game is winner in three­ sets rather thaan one. Of course Serena has since­ proved that losing the first set does not stop her­ coming back to win. So lets see if Vika has her measure­ and can win tomorrow.

    From sanchez.santos, on Fri 3 Apr 4:10PM

  15. Monica Seles and Steffi Graf way infront of the­ Williams Sisters.They will never beat their records.
    So­ wanted Venus to beat Serena hope Venus can get back to­ number one soon she much nicer of the sisters.

    From AJ, on Fri 3 Apr 4:04PM

  16. I still think Venus should have won this match. She­ played completely different to her win over Benesova.­ Come on Venus get the number one. YOU DESERVE IT

    From B, on Fri 3 Apr 3:57PM

  17. Not the best player ever yet Vic M.Hope Vika can play­ well in her match against Serena as she had Serena on­ the ropes at Aussie open.Serena only won because Vika­ was unwell.Good luck Vika hope its a good match.

    From AJ, on Fri 3 Apr 3:41PM

  18. Venus and Serena are great competitors, and we're­ lucky to have them in the game. As for Seles and Graf,­ if Seles had not been stabbed, she would have won a lot­ more. She would have won the grand Slam too if people­ hadn't complained about her vocal 'squeak'.­ Sharapova makes far more noise.

    From webbski, on Fri 3 Apr 3:05PM

  19. #1: The best player ever ? What an idiot !!

    From Tim, on Fri 3 Apr 2:23PM

  20. If MOnica Seles was not stabbed by a crazy german­ (Graf´s race)..Graf future in tennis has been ended­ earlier..because definitely she will become underdog to­ MOnica...Grafs fans has been frustrated that she will­ get into nowhere because seles will cause a great upset­ in her career... I do not think it was a plot!!!!!

    From JOMA, on Fri 3 Apr 1:21PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account