7/07/2008

Week #26-27: Venus Williams gets her 5th Wimbledon title

Venus Williams retained her Wimbledon title after defeating sister Serena Williams in the final, which was the 7th Grand Slam final between them, the last one in Wimbledon 2003. This also was the 7th Grand Slam title for Venus, 5th one in Wimbledon (2000, 2001, 2005 and 2007). The tournament was marked by the early defeats of the four top seeds Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova. For the first time in the tournament's history, none of the four top seeds reached the quarter-finals. This left the Williams sisters as the top favourites for the title, as they eased their way to the final. Semifinalist places were for Chinese Jie Zheng, who upsetted No.1 Ana Ivanovic and became the first Chinese ever to reach a Grand Slam semifinal, and Russian Elena Dementieva, who is showing a great regularity this season and got her best result ever in Wimbledon. Agnieszka Radwanska, who is enjoying a fantastic season, Tamarine Tanasugarn, playing her best at Wimbledon once again (has reached Last-16 round 7 times in the last 10 years), Nadia Petrova and Nicole Vaidisova, who finally seem to be getting their best tennis back, completed the quarter-finals.
The doubles title was also for the Williams sisters, who defeated Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur in the final. At least, Stosur got the mixed doubles title with Bob Bryan.

Wimbledon (GBR), Grand Slam, £3,925,000
Singles final: Venus Williams (USA) def Serena Williams (USA) 7/5 6/4
Doubles final: V.Williams/S.Williams def L.Raymond/S.Stosur 6/2 6/2
Mixed doubles final: B.Bryan/S.Stosur def M.Bryan/K.Srebotnik 7/5 6/4

No comments: