FINAL
[2] Serena Williams (USA) vs. [7] Venus Williams (USA)
Serena leads Head-To-Head 12-10
Match airs on ESPN2 @ 10am EST
Match airs on TENNIS Channel 2pm EST
Saturday, 31 October 2009
(Walking Wounded)
Venus and Serena Williams lost their semifinal match to Spaniards Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 2-6, 6-4, 10-8 after a champions tiebreaker. The Williams Sisters will play each other for the Sony Ericsson Championship title tomorrow. Will Serena win the title for the 2nd time or will Venus?
Serena Williams, 2001 Sony Ericsson champion and new world No.1 advanced to the SEC Final when Caroline Wozniacki was forced to retire. Serena took the first set 6-4 and Wozniacki was up 1-0 in the second set before calling it quits. Danish teenager Wozniacki came into the tournament carrying a left thigh strain struggled with cramps in the round-robin stage. A stomach strain forced to her to quit. "Caroline is a great fighter and a new face on the tour," said Serena, who has now won all four matches here including a three-set group win over her sister. "I wasn't playing great. I think it's hard to play well against a player who's injured and is so nice. She's been struggling throughout the entire tournament," Serena said. "She's just an incredible fighter to come out here today and put up an effort."
Serena played her semi-final with a tightly-bandaged left thigh. With fitness worries on her mind, Serena earlier pulled out of next weekend's Fed Cup final between the US and Italy. Wozniacki, the US Open runner-up, admitted it was a match too far. "I felt pain in my stomach muscle. I also had problems serving. But today after a while, the serve went over and also when I was hitting just regular groundstrokes, I started feeling it," she said. "So it was just too much for me to keep playing."
WHITE PLAINS, New York (AP) - The U.S. Tennis Association says Serena Williams has pulled out of the team that will face Italy in the Fed Cup final. USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier tells The Associated Press on Saturday that Williams informed United States captain Mary Joe Fernandez she won't play in the Nov. 7-8 matches. Vania King replaces Williams on the roster, joining surprise U.S. Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin, Liezel Huber and Alexa Glatch. Fernandez had announced this week Williams would play Fed Cup for the first time since 2007.Williams leads active women with 11 Grand Slam singles titles and is unbeaten in Fed Cup singles play. She is in this weekend's semifinals at the season-ending WTA championships in Doha, Qatar.
Friday, 30 October 2009
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Serena Williams clinched a spot in the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Championships after beating Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-4 for her third straight win in the group phase. Williams was broken to trail 2-1 in the first set but then won seven straight games to take control of the match. She converted her third match point when Dementieva sent the ball into the net. Serena has already secured the year-end No. 1 ranking after Dinara Safina pulled out of the tournament with a back injury.This was by far Serena's most definitive match of the three that she has played. She struck the ball with such authority and power that the first set was over before Dementieva knew it. Serena's serves and returns were jaw dropping and she played an overall clean game. Her movement was phenomenal, even though her left thigh was heavily taped. The second set was much closer as it appeared Dementieva was slowly coming to terms with Serena's game (which was full of power, precision and purpose). Serena put tremendous pressure on Dementieva's serves and returns. I was truly impressed with Serena for she let her play match her new top notch ranking. Most impressively, in 3 consecutive days Serena defeated French Open Champion - Svetlana Kuznetsova, SEC defending Champion - Venus Williams and Olympic Gold Medalist - Elena Dementieva. Wow!!
Serena's Match Stats:
1st Serve Percentage: 62%
Aces: 6
Double Faults: 1
Winners: 28
Unforced Errors: 13
Break Points Won: 5/10
Match Time: 1hr 34min
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