Don’t tell Serena Williams that sister Venus is the one to beat at Wimbledon.
“I would never sit here and say she’s the favorite when I’m still in the draw,” she said, bristling at the suggestion. “That’s not me. I always believe that I’m the favorite. Even if I’m not the favorite, I’m always going to believe that I am.”
The Williams sisters, who between them have won six of the last eight Wimbledon titles, are one round away from a third Wimbledon title matchup and seventh Grand Slam championship showdown. Neither has lost a set so far, and their power games have set them apart from the rest of the women’s field.
PHOTO: AP
“That would be amazing if we both were in the final,” defending champion and four-time winner Venus said after beating Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday to reach the semi-finals.
Two-time champ Serena caught some of her sister’s match before going out and sweeping Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-0.
“Watching the competition a little bit,” she said.
PHOTO: AP
Next up for sixth-seeded Serena today is Zheng Jie, who became the first Chinese player to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam by beating Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1. The 133rd-ranked Zheng is also the first wild-card entrant to reach the women’s semis at Wimbledon and second at any Grand Slam.
No. 7 Venus will next face No. 5 Elena Dementieva, who wasted a 5-1 lead and two match points in the second set before beating fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-3 to reach her first Wimbledon semi-final.
Venus was limping slightly at the end of her match with what she said was a tight left hamstring.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
“I’m fine,” she said. “I’m walking around on two legs, doing good, so I’m not really concerned right now.”
The Williams sisters will be heavy favorites to meet in their first tour final since the 2003 Wimbledon championship. Serena won that match in three sets, following up her straight-set win over Venus for the 2002 title. Serena leads Venus 5-1 in Slam finals and 8-7 overall.
“We want to deserve to be there,” Venus said. “We have to play the best tennis to deserve it, so our aim is just to play better than our opponents and really deserve to be there.”
PHOTO: AFP
The women had a day off yesterday, which is set aside for the men’s quarter-finals. For the first time at a Grand Slam in the 40-year history of the Open era, all eight quarter-finalists are from Europe.
The draw seems headed to a third straight final between five-time champion Roger Federer and Spain’s Rafael Nadal.
Federer was scheduled first up on Centre Court against Mario Ancic, the last player to beat him on grass — in the first round of Wimbledon in 2002. Since then, Federer has won 63 consecutive matches on grass and 38 in a row at the All England Club. He’s also won five straight against Ancic.
Nadal, bidding to become the first man to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year since Bjorn Borg in 1980, was paired against Andy Murray. The 12th-seeded Murray, playing in his first Grand Slam quarter-final, is trying to become the first British man to win the title in 72 years.
The winner of that match will advance to the semi-finals against No. 94-ranked Rainer Schuettler or No. 145-ranked Arnaud Clement.
The 32-year-old Schuettler is playing in his first Grand Slam quarter-final in five years, and Clement last reached the final eight at a major in 2001.
Two-time major champion Marat Safin will play in his first Grand Slam quarter-final since winning the Australian Open in 2005. His opponent will be No. 31-seeded Feliciano Lopez, with the winner to face the Federer-Ancic winner.
It’s been five years since Serena won the Wimbledon trophy, and the last of her eight Grand Slam titles came at the Australian Open last year.
“I always expect to be here,” she said. “I always expect the best. I feel like I deserve this because I don’t think anyone’s been working harder than me, except for maybe Venus. I mean that girl works even harder than I do. I just feel it’s about time.”
Serena, who fell to Venus in the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2000, said it hurts less to lose to her sister.
“I mean, I’ll be bitter, but at the end of the day it’s a lot easier losing to someone that I feel I should normally beat,” she said.
Serena was asked how the sisters, who are sharing a rented accommodation in Wimbledon village, would handle breakfast on Saturday morning if they are in the final.
“I’m going to sabotage her and eat all the breakfast,” she said with a smile. “I’ll eat all the Wheaties [cereal] so she doesn’t have any chance, if we get that far.”
TAIWANESE
In the third round of the mixed doubles on Tuesday, Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan and Daniel Nestor of Canada beat Max Mirnyi and Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-3, 7-6 (4).
Chuang’s compatriot Chan Yung-jan and Julian Knowle of Austria were less fortunate, losing to Jamie Murray of Britain and US player Liezel Huber 6-4, 6-3.
In the boys’ singles, second-seeded Yang Tsung-hua of Taiwan defeated Alessandro Giannessi of Italy 7-6 (7), 6-2 to advance to the third round.
China yesterday celebrated one of its best Olympic performances, while some supporters declared China the true winners, if medals won by Hong Kong and self-ruled Taiwan were included. “We are number one out of sovereign countries,” read one comment with more than 1,300 likes on Sina Weibo. Many similar posts included images of an adjusted medal table with medals won by Hong Kong and Taiwan added to the Chinese total. Since Taiwan’s Olympic debut in 1956, its athletes have competed as “Formosa,” “Taiwan,” “the Republic of China,” and since 1984 as “Chinese Taipei.” Hong Kong competes separately from China. Team China racked up 40 gold
Taiwan on Friday beat Australia 11-0 at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Taiwan are represented at the tournament by Taoyuan’s Gueishan Elementary School, who won the Asia-Pacific regional tournament to earn the trip to the US. Australia are represented by the Hills Red team from Sydney. Taiwan advanced to a game tomorrow against Santa Clara, representing Cuba, who won 4-1 against the Czech Republic’s Brno, the Europe-Africa regional qualifiers. Australian starter Sayre Howick had a tough time controlling his pitches at Volunteer Stadium, one of which allowed Taiwan to open their account. They scored six in the inning and
Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday was halted by rain on the brink of victory, while defending women’s champion Coco Gauff crashed out in her first match at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open and Taiwanese there and in Colombia also exited. Spaniard Alcaraz, the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champion, led France’s Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-6 (1/3) when rain halted play at the last major tuneup for the US Open, which is to start on Aug. 26. Top seed Alcaraz, who lost to Novak Djokovic in last year’s Cincinnati final, took a silver medal at the Paris Olympics, also dropping that final to Djokovic. Alcaraz is
World Boxing, an international amateur boxing organization formed last year after a breakdown in relations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA), has announced the admission of Taiwan, along with four other nations, into its growing list of members. In a statement released on its Web site on Friday, the Swiss- based organization said that in addition to Taiwan, admitted as Chinese Taipei, Bhutan, Ecuador, Fiji and Pakistan have also become members. The new members all have well-rounded national and international boxing programs as well as transparency in the leadership and management of their national boxing programs,