Wimbledon Capsules: Serena tops Venus for third women's crown

WIMBLEDON, England - Serena Williams kept telling herself she was facing just another foe in the Wimbledon final Saturday, just another woman who hits the ball quite hard, just another player trying to deny her a Grand Slam title.

She wasn't facing just anyone, of course. She was playing her older sister Venus. And when the latest all-Williams final finished, when Serena wrapped up a 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory for a third Wimbledon championship and 11th major title overall, she jogged to the net with her arm extended for a handshake.

Venus pulled her close for a warm embrace, instead.

"I didn't think about Venus at all today. I just saw her as an opponent," said Serena, who also beat her sister in the 2002 and 2003 finals at the All England Club. "At one point, after the first set, I looked on the side of the court at the stats, and it was like ‘Williams,' ‘Williams.' I couldn't figure out which was which."

That also might have been because she was facing the only other woman who can equal her power and court coverage on grass courts. Monday's rankings will say Serena is No. 2, and Venus No. 3 - behind No. 1 Dinara Safina, a 6-1, 6-0 loser to the elder Williams in the semifinals - but it is clear who the best woman in the world is at the moment.

Serena has won three of the past four Grand Slam titles and even poked a little fun at Safina, who is 0-3 in major finals.

"If you hold three Grand Slam titles, maybe you should be No. 1, but not on the WTA Tour, obviously," Serena said. Then, alluding sarcastically to two less-than-major events won by Safina, Serena doubled over in laughter after saying: "I see myself as No. 2. That's where I am. I think Dinara did a great job to get to No. 1. She won Rome and Madrid."

The sisters' father, Richard Williams, used to say his youngest daughter would be the better of the two, and the numbers back that up at this point: Serena leads in Grand Slam titles (11-7), in head-to-head matches (11-10), and in all-Williams major finals (6-2).

It was the 14th Grand Slam final for each Williams; no other active woman participated in more than four. Serena is 11-3 in such matches; Venus fell to 7-7, with all but one defeat coming against her sister.

Asked if it's easier or harder losing to a sibling, five-time Wimbledon champion Venus said: "There's no ‘easy' to losing, especially when it's so close to the crown."

She was the two-time defending champion and had won 20 matches in a row at Wimbledon, the last 17 in straight sets. But Venus - at 29, she's 15 months older than Serena - appeared a step slow, perhaps bothered by the left knee that's been heavily bandaged since the second round, although she refused to place blame there.

"She played so well, really lifted her game," Venus said. "I had an error here and there. Today, I couldn't make errors."

Serena had more winners, 25-14, more aces, 12-2, and fewer unforced errors, 12-18.

About 3½ hours after their match ended, Serena and Venus returned to Centre Court and capped their domination of the tournament by winning a second consecutive Wimbledon doubles championship. Slapping palms between points, the sisters beat Australians Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs 7-6 (4), 6-4 to collect their ninth women's doubles Grand Slam title, fourth at Wimbledon.

"Nothing like winning a title with your sister," Serena said.

That's right: a quick turnaround from opponents to teammates. But they're used to this routine. They're still coached by their parents, who began teaching them the game 20-something years ago in Compton, Calif. They still share a house during Wimbledon. They still practice together.

During the singles final, the Center Court crowd of about 15,000 was not altogether sure for whom to cheer, going stretches without supporting either sister. Mom sat in the stands with arms crossed, while Dad had already left town, because he refuses to watch his daughters play each other.

As they walked to the sideline at the first changeover, crossing paths, the sisters avoided any eye contact whatsoever. Serena looked down at her racket, fiddling with the strings, the way she does against anyone else.

Surnames usually suffice when chair umpires announce the score, but that wouldn't work for Saturday's official, Alison Lang, who needed to use first names, as in: "Miss Venus Williams leads, 2 games to 1, first set."

The wind swirled, the sun was bright as it peeked out from behind scattered clouds, and Venus kept catching her tosses on serves. That was the part of her game that was most dominant this fortnight, and the thing that let her down the most against Serena.

Venus wound up with more double-faults (three) than aces, and she was broken twice. Serena, meanwhile, saved the only two break points she faced.

Both came while Serena trailed 4-3 in the opening set, serving at 15-40. On the first, Serena hit a 94 mph serve to the backhand side that Venus returned wide. On the second, Serena charged forward, and Venus had a wide-open court, but she pushed a forehand passing try long.

"Went for a little too much," Venus said.

From deuce, Serena hit two aces, at 105 mph and 116 mph, to pull out the game.

They went to a tiebreaker, and Serena closed it with a lob that curled like a rainbow over her sister and landed in, no easy task when you consider Venus is 6-foot-1.

Serena wheeled around, her back to the court, and quickly celebrated with a pump of a fist, although no yells of "Yes!" or "Come on!" - one, tiny, indication she couldn't completely banish from her mind the thought that Venus was on the other side of the net. Then Serena walked to the sideline, her left fist clenched and her face blank.

The second set wasn't nearly as competitive, with Serena breaking to a 4-2 lead when Venus double-faulted. That was part of an eight-point run for Serena, whose only real trouble came when she tried to seal the victory.

She wasted her first three match points, before Venus dropped a backhand into the net on the fourth. Serena closed her eyes, rolled her head back and dropped to her knees.

She lost Wimbledon finals to Maria Sharapova in 2004, and to her sister last year, and really wanted to end her six-year gap without a title from this tournament. Her trophy in tow - it's called, coincidentally, the Venus Rosewater Dish - Serena went to check out the board that lists Wimbledon's champions. She ran her fingers over all of those references to "S. Williams" and "V. Williams" in gold type on a green background - eight of the past 10 years, one or the other appears.

"Actually, I felt like my name should have been there at least once more," she said. "At least I got in another one."

She almost didn't. In the semifinals Friday, Serena was one point from losing to No. 4 Elena Dementieva, before coming back. She's only the second woman in the 41-year Open era to rally from match point down on the way to winning Wimbledon. The other? Venus in 2005.

Serena is making a habit of such escapes. She also saved match points en route to Australian Open championships in 2003 and 2005.

"The match is never over," Serena noted, "until you shake the opponent's hand."

Or, as was the case Saturday, until you hug her.

Serena remains No. 2 despite another major title

WIMBLEDON, England - Even with three of the last four Grand Slam titles in her possession, Serena Williams will stay behind No. 1 Dinara Safina when the WTA rankings are released Monday.

The second-ranked Williams beat older sister Venus in the Wimbledon final on Saturday, adding to the major championships she won at the U.S. Open in September and at the Australian Open in January. Still, Serena remains No. 2 in the rankings.

"My motivation is maybe just to win another Grand Slam and stay No. 2, I guess," she said after beating Venus 7-6 (3), 6-2 for her third Wimbledon title and 11th Grand Slam championship overall. "I'd rather definitely be No. 2 and hold three Grand Slams in the past year than be No. 1 and not have any."

Safina rose to No. 1 in April. She lost to Serena in this year's Australian Open final, and then won titles in Rome and Madrid before falling to 0-3 in Grand Slam title matches by losing at that stage of the French Open last month. In the Wimbledon semifinals, the Russian was beaten 6-1, 6-0 by No. 3 Venus - the most lopsided loss ever by a reigning No. 1 woman.

"Dinara did a great job to get to No. 1. She won Rome and Madrid," Serena said before rolling her eyes and laughing loudly.

Serena reached the quarterfinals at the French Open before losing to eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Players get ranking points by winning tour-level matches and can be rewarded for entering more tournaments.

Both Williams sisters spent time at No. 1, each first reaching that spot in 2002, but they dropped down the rankings after reducing the amount of tournaments they play. Serena got back to No. 1 last year and briefly this year.

"For several years now, at least three or four years, I just really wanted to focus on tennis, and I've really been doing that. I feel like this is where I want to be, and this is my chance to capitalize on everything," Serena said. "I really enjoy it. I even started playing more doubles because I enjoy being out on the court so much. I think it's pretty much all paying off."

After Safina was routed by Venus at Wimbledon on Thursday, she defended the ranking system.

"Well, I've been in last four Grand Slams, I reach at least semifinal," Safina said. "I mean, they haven't been in the semifinal of the French Open. I think this is the result of how you play the whole year. It's not about one, two tournaments how you play. It's a result of tournament by tournament, day to day that you play."

Venus was asked about the rankings after beating Safina.

"I respect Dinara Safina immensely, and I think you should, too," she replied.

-- Chris Lehourites

Williams sisters win Wimbledon doubles title

WIMBLEDON, England - Serena Williams won a pair of Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon on Saturday, 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. It's 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."

Earlier Saturday on Centre Court, Serena beat Venus 7-6 (3), 6-2 in singles to win her third Wimbledon title - she beat her older sister in each final.

A year ago, Venus beat Serena in the championship match to win her fifth Wimbledon singles title, and the pair then teamed up to win the doubles.

"One out of two's 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."

Against the Australians, the Williams sisters traded breaks in the first set, with Stosur and Stubbs taking a 2-1 lead off Serena's opening service game. But the Americans eventually broke back to 4-4 when Stosur put a backhand volley into the net.

In the tiebreaker, Venus put the sisters up a mini-break on the second point with a return of serve that Stubbs couldn't get back over.

"The ball clipped the tape, and therefore it went a little bit higher than it should have and it hit my frame and didn't quite get off the string," Stubbs said. "It was really unlucky."

The most entertaining point of the match came with Stubbs serving at 1-1 in the second set. Serena returned the serve, and Stubbs swung her racket behind her and hit the ball through her legs to get it back over.

"I do that because sometimes you have to do that," said Stubbs, who added that she makes that kind of shot all the time. "That's just experience and being an idiot on the court half the time."

As the point continued, Stosur stood at the net and battered back volley after volley as both Venus and Serena grunted and groaned while sending groundstrokes back over the net.

Stosur eventually won the point with a drop shot neither sister could get near, and the Australian took that game. But the sisters broke Stubbs to go up 4-3 in that set and kept control.

"I'm really excited to have doubles titles," Serena said. "I rack ‘em up."

-- Chris Lehourites

Nestor and Zimonjic win men's doubles title

WIMBLEDON, England - Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia won their second straight Wimbledon men's doubles title Saturday, 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."

Nestor and Zimonjic were playing in their third Grand Slam final together. Besides winning the Wimbledon title last year, they lost in the 2008 French Open final.

This year's final was the first time that Nestor and Zimonjic have played the Bryan brothers in a Grand Slam tournament.

"It's great to be able to play them on a big stage and be able to beat them," Nestor said.

The Bryan brothers, who have won seven major titles together, entered the match on Centre Court without having dropped a set at the All England Club this year. Despite holding serve throughout the first three sets, the brothers were broken in the second game of the fourth set and Nestor and Zimonjic held the rest of the way.

"I haven't lost serve in doubles or mixed in probably 2½ years," Bob Bryan said. "I didn't make my first serves and they made some good returns. But you can't make any excuses."

The difference was the way Nestor and Zimonjic held serve, Bob Bryan said.

"It's a game of inches and when you're playing two guys who are serving close to 130 (mph), and you're not getting a lot of sniffs on your return, it's a dice roll," Bob Bryan said. "They were the better team today and I have to give them a lot of credit."

Wimbledon at a glance

WIMBLEDON, England - A look at Wimbledon on Saturday:

Weather: Clouds and brief rain giving way to sun, high of 73 degrees.

Attendance: 28,983, an increase of 333 from the second Saturday in 2008.

Women's Singles Final: No. 2 Serena Williams beat No. 3 Venus Williams 7-6 (3), 6-2 to win her third Wimbledon championship and 11th Grand Slam title overall. Serena has won three of the past four major tournaments.

Women's Doubles Final: Serena and Venus Williams beat Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs 7-6 (4), 6-4 to win their fourth Wimbledon title and ninth Grand Slam women's doubles championship.

Men's Doubles Final: No. 2 Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic beat No. 1 Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 (7), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Stat of the Day: 12, 0 - aces, double-faults by Serena in the singles final.

Quote of the Day: "I would just play a good shot, and she'd just hit a winner off of it or put me in a position where she could hit another winner." - Venus, talking about her younger sister.

On Court Sunday: No. 2 Roger Federer vs. No. 6 Andy Roddick in the men's singles final. Federer will be trying to win his sixth Wimbledon championship and record-breaking 15th Grand Slam title overall.

Sunday's Forecast: Cloudy with a chance of light rain, high of 73 degrees.

Sunday's TV: NBC, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

On the Web: http://www.wimbledon.org