Tennis News

Serena Williams beat her sister Venus in straight sets 7-6 6-2 to clinch her third Wimbledon singles crown on a packed Centre Court.

The victory was the number two seed's third victory over her sister in a final at SW19, and came in convincing fashion after a first set tie-break.

Serena stepped up her intensity to devastating effect in the breaker, and clinched it 7-3 with Venus clearly taken aback by her sisters' sudden surge of momentum.

The numbers are stacked against Andy Roddick when he faces Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final on Sunday, but the American is a slicker package than the one beaten by the Swiss in two previous showpiece encounters here.

Federer holds a jaw-dropping 18-2 career advantage over Roddick and comfortably beat the 26-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska in the 2004 and 2005 finals, with Swiss artistry generally trumping American grit each time they have met.

The 2009 edition of Roddick, though, is no longer a big-serving, one-trick pony.

Q. Where does that rate amongst your performances in recent years?
ANDY RODDICK: In recent years, it's, I mean ?? I think overall it's certainly up there. You know, playing a player of his rank, his caliber, you know, in kind of his atmosphere. He was certainly in form going into the match. I had to play my best tennis to win.
Q. It seems like a lot of streams came together to make the river today: fitness, the backhand working. Can you address that.

Q. You seem to have run into the Roddick of 2003. Were you expecting that?
ANDY MURRAY: You always expect your opponents to play well, especially at this stage of the tournament. And he served great. Served really, really well in the tiebreaks. I think he maybe missed two first serves.
The second one wasn't until 6?4 in the tiebreak. He was serving really well at the start. And I had a few chances, you know, in the first tiebreak. I had chances early in the third set. I didn't take them.
Q. How do you rate your own performance?

Q. How will you sum up the totality of your game today?
TOMMY HAAS: How would I sum up what?
Q. Your game today.
TOMMY HAAS: You know, overall pretty happy with the way I played overall. I served extremely well. So did my opponent today. You know, I only got broken there at 5?6 in the second set for the first time after having a long, long game back and forth. I think maybe I was trying to go for a little bit too much then and not following up, being aggressive, coming into the net.

Q. You looked extremely smooth and fluent today. Everything coming with ease. How do you feel yourself? Did you enjoy the match? Did you feel any nerves or tension?
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, they're never easy, those big matches. But normally you always play better if your opponent's playing good, too. I thought Tommy, you know, was on a great run. I couldn't even get close to breaking him for almost two sets.

Serena Williams says she and sister Venus are “used to being in this position” as they prepare to face each other in their fourth women's singles Wimbledon final this afternoon.

Serena, 27, is attempting to complete a hat-trick of Wimbledon final victories over her elder sibling after winning the title in 2002 and 2003.

But Venus, 29, last year proved that Serena was not destined to forever be her Centre Court bogeywoman as she emerged victorious 7-5, 6-4.

It very nearly didn't happen, but it is the final many people expected, not least the protagonists themselves. For the second year in a row, and fourth time overall, the Williams sisters are set to do battle for the Ladies' Singles crown at the All England Club. It will also be the 12th Wimbledon final featuring two American players, ensuring an apt 4th of July champion.

Centre Court
[3] Venus Williams (USA) vs. [2] Serena Williams (USA)
Tied at 10-10

Only one Wimbledon final in this nearly gone decade has failed to feature at least one Williams sister, and this year it again has both. The Planetary One and the Anything-but-Serene One have a 10-10 career head-to-head record, but Serena leads their Wimbledon rivalry 2-1 and their Grand Slam rivalry 5-2. It is the most prolific Grand Slam rivalry since Chris Evert versus Martina Navratilova, who met in 14 major finals with Navratilova ending up on top, 10-4.

By the time Venus and Serena Williams prepared for another Wimbledon final, they'd grown weary of people asking them how they prepared for another Wimbledon final.

"Please," Venus said. "Humor us with something a little more creative."