Wimbledon - Reed: All Williams final on the cards

Eurosport - Sun, 28 Jun 15:32:00 2009

Eurosport-Yahoo! blogger Simon Reed believes that despite great form from the younger players, no-one can stop an all Williams final at Wimbledon.

2008 Wimbledon Venus and Serena Williams - 0

There were two huge upsets in the women's draw with teenagers Sabine Lisicki and Melanie Oudin ousting established stars Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Jankovic.

Lisicki is someone who I have liked for a long time and I know the German public have a lot of high hopes for her. She played very well and could be a challenger in the years to come.

As for Oudin, her win over Jankovic was great to see and her fairytale run continues.

I have been unsure about Jankovic for a long time now, she was off rhythm and just did not look right, and that was before she began struggling with stomach cramps and pains in her feet.

The 17-year-old American is having the absolute time of her life right now. This time last year she was beaten by Laura Robson in the juniors and she did well just to be here, coming through three rounds of qualifying, and facing match points in one of those qualifiers. To make it to the second week is a great achievement and her match against Agnieszka Radwanska should be intriguing.

Lisicki, Oudin, Radwanska and the Dane, Caroline Wozniacki, are four excellent players and it has been great to see their run at SW19 this week. But for these teenagers, their runs at the title will be cut short.

The problem for these younger players is that they need to beat Venus Williams to get to the final. I think Wozniacki will get the furthest, and will be beaten by Venus in the semi-final.

On the other side of the draw, there is no one who can really challenge Serena and you would be a fool to bet against the Williams sisters making it a fourth all-Williams final.

It is not just the younger players who are having good runs.

It has been nice to see Amelie Mauresmo battling her way through. It was really now or never for her, and I think if she crashed out then she would have retired. But she has shaken things up and is working well with her new coach, Hugo Lecoq. She meets Dinara Safina in the next round and I would not at all be surprised if she denies Safina the chance of a Grand Slam title.

On the men's side of things, I saw Tomas Berdych defeat Nikolay Davydenko and he looked very good doing so. He has all the ingredients to challenge the top players and is playing unbeatable tennis right now. He matches up well with his fourth round opponent, Andy Roddick, and I think he will take the lead. But Roddick is playing some great tennis and I think the American will ultimately be too strong for him.

The middle Saturday of Wimbledon is always a special day of the year. There was a huge crowd packed in and they left happy with Andy Murray's win. The guy is just in unbelievable form.

Simon Reed / Eurosport

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  1. lets seeee a happy happy REPEAT of

    THE LAST ­ OLYMPIC MEDAL RESULTS ~~~~~~~~ you know it makes sense

    From ace.firstserve, on Mon 29 Jun 12:03AM
  2. our dear favourite OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST ­ ELENA DEMENTIEVA

    TO feature in THE LADIES SINGLES­ FINAL ~~~ A refreshing breeze to enhance the­ proceedings

    From ace.firstserve, on Sun 28 Jun 11:29PM
  3. Azarenka, Wozniacki, Lisicki rules.. I think Williams­ will not win this time...even thou this trio lacks­ experience
    .. will see...
    Safina is stable.. Ana could­ surprise Venus...why not ?

    From Igor K, on Sun 28 Jun 11:09PM
  4. Hej guys, finals with Federer and the Williamses can­ only be boring if there would be noone else. The­ article above mentions plenty of folks ready to beat­ them.

    A final without Murray/Federer seems like an­ anticlimax, but we will first know when the final is­ over. Until then, enjoy.

    From Casalpusterlengho, on Sun 28 Jun 11:04PM
  5. Hatsutking, your posts directed towards me are really­ stunning. First of all, I wanted you to get off my­ back, but you insist to reply on posts I make (I admit,­ you have the right to do so). Then I invited you to­ contact me directly (which I did in favour of other­ users, so they won't be bothered by personal­ arguments at this space), which you neglected (I admit,­ you are not forced to contact me). Thirdly, you pretend­ to have some knowledge about my nationality, but, as­ the professional writer of these pointless articles,­ you are not even guessing, you just give hints towards­ theories you have no idea of. Last: I won't dive­ into faschism and nazi talk to respond to your poorly­ uttered sarcasm, it is indeed below my dignity. As for­ your knowledge about the human ego in general, please­ do me the favour of exactly doing the opposite you­ recommended me: Develop your poorly weak ego so you­ don't have to throw tomatoes to others than­ yourself, you might profit in the long run.

    So, to­ make this my last commented reply, I will answer any­ future replies of yours with: No comment! You will­ always have the possibility to change that by proving­ to me and the readers of these forums that you do not­ only make up statements out of thin air in announcing­ my nationality at this spot or directly to me and I­ will sincerely honour your so deeply sought after­ brainpower.

    From Casalpusterlengho, on Sun 28 Jun 10:47PM
  6. Federer gets to the finals all the time,it is­ boring.Williams sisters get to the Wimbledon finales­­ ,it is not boring.Get a life and try­ gardening.Ron

    Ronald

    From Serranno, on Sun 28 Jun 10:25PM
  7. Federer gets to the finals all the time,it is not­ boring.Williams sisters get to the Wimbledon finales­ ,it is boring.Get a life and try gardening.Ron

    From Ronald, on Sun 28 Jun 10:10PM
  8. Casalpusterlengho: Please stick with your version of­ being "creative." When you try to be cleverly­ logical, you're pathetic. "unbeatable tennis­ right now," according to my 7-year-old grandson,­ means "the guy playing unbeatable tennis is­ playing better that day than other players are...or so­ the guy who said that thinks." He is a genuine­ tennis fan as apposed to a "poser." How­ smarmy will you become to make others appear less than­ you? Jab in your prissy needles of postured arrogance,­ but you won't burst the balloons of enthusiasm. No­ more asinine come-backs of " leave me alone unless­ you can be creative" will protect you from­ deserved criticism as you try to rob people of their­ dignity when they try to creatively express their­ ideas. .. you eedjit, even the column's derelict­ so-called "abusers" have dignity. So, do­ priss-ites like you. But you are neither above this­ community nor criticism.

    From Hatsutking, on Sun 28 Jun 9:38PM
  9. Reed you have forgotten Victoria Azaranska.She can beat­ William if she in her form and no one can stop her.Im­ doubt about you sometime Reed.

    From jiew_39, on Sun 28 Jun 8:12PM
  10. Reed you have forgotten Victoria Azaranska.She can beat­ William if she in her form and no one can stop her.Im­ doubt about you sometime Reed.

    From jiew_39, on Sun 28 Jun 8:10PM
  11. Yes, me too hope that we wont have a fourth­ all-Williams final. Enough is enough! I think that­ fresh blood will start to seep into women's tennis;­ better late than ever. Sabine Lisicki's win at­ Charleston is a good omen of something new and very­ welcome twist coming our way. Come on, Sabine and all­ the young beauties around! A new dawn is looming.­ Cheers.

    From traan2002, on Sun 28 Jun 8:09PM
  12. Just love your posts serrannos, you should visit the­ boards more often.
    Very interesting analyses from Simon­ Reed and he may well be proved correct yet again. I­ think the semis will be between Sabine/Venus in the top­ half and between Vika/Serena in the bottom half and I­ will stick with my prediction that the winner will come­ from the bottom half. However I will be happy whichever­ one of the four triumphs. I expect an Andy/Roger final­ and I will be happy whichever man wins.

    From sanchez.santos, on Sun 28 Jun 8:05PM
  13. Martin, all the top seeds get an easy 1st week. The­ organisors have to sell tickets after all. The real­ tournament starts next week, as Lleyton said, but you­ have to get through the 1st week to get there expending­ as little energy as possible.

    From Katy, on Sun 28 Jun 8:03PM
  14. Regardless of what the critics say, irrespective of the­ continuing hating, name callings and most obviously­ prejudice, The Williams Sisters are the best on grass­ and any other fast court. They are The players to beat­ and will remain so until someone CONSISTANTLY prove­ otherwise. That's the bottom line!

    From Chukwuemeka, on Sun 28 Jun 7:58PM
  15. Andy Murray's draw is highly questionable...its­ like a fix.

    From Martin S, on Sun 28 Jun 7:53PM
  16. love or hate them, the William sisters are perculiar­ performers. I think its high time the world should­ recognise them as the greats in women tennis. At­ Wembledon they look atheletic and in good shape that­ opponents need to be at their best to give them a­ challenge. They are simple and admirable....hands up­ for the brave sisters.

    From Martin S, on Sun 28 Jun 7:44PM
  17. ace.firstserve, is that your Email so i can get your­ ticket of you, that is if you really have one, we dont­ care if the whole tennis nutters here dont like the­ girls,they are good and i hope they make it to the­ finals, while i like safina and ivanovich, i reckon­ they will have to up their games to make it to the­ finals whoever does, i wish them good luck and to the­ haters, put your head in the toilet and pull the lever­ cos thats where you belong

    From nechi, on Sun 28 Jun 7:40PM
  18. i think Ivanovic will upset Venus.

    From denbote, on Sun 28 Jun 7:39PM
  19. Williams are the best.........no tricks

    From Peter, on Sun 28 Jun 7:35PM
  20. The great thing about sports is that you can have all­ the b***s*** opinions you want; the player either wins­ or they lose, they score more points or less and no­ amount of trash talk whether it's about style,­ attitude, personality, race etc can take the away. The­ Williams sisters out-score their opponents, that makes­ them the winner and makes them the best...no other­ opinion about what is better in sports exist - in music­ yeah, in theater, poetry yeah, you can fuss about that­ other @#$% but in sports there is a winner and a loser­ plain an simple. So get over it.

    From Alexander T, on Sun 28 Jun 7:34PM
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