Williams Sisters' Fireworks Light Up Bangalore Night
By Anton Lagani, Lawn Tennis Correspondent, Posted: Saturday, March 8, 2008 2:55pm CST USA
Photo by Strdel/AFP/Getty Images
BANGALORE--(lawntennismag.com) At the Bangalore Open in semifinal two Saturday night Indian time, American Venus Williams battled back
from 3-6, 0-2 to reach matchpoint at 3-6, 6-3, 6-5 only to finally succomb to her younger sister Serena Williams in a third set
tiebreaker 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(7-4). Serena Williams advances to Sunday's final while Venus can take away that her performance today rivaled
even her sister's.
"It's probably one of our closest matches," Serena said. Venus added, "She always plays really tough, really challenging. She hit some
serves that I really couldn’t return."
In set one in possibly the most important number of the match, Venus converted 0 of 7 breakpoints to fall behind early 3-6 after Serena hit
a forehand return winner down the line on set point. After dropping set one, Venus would raise her level of play but never perform
at her best level in part due to an early momentum gathered by Serena from set one.
Venus converted a service break in set two to pull even one set all as Serena dropped her service in the final game of the second set by
netting a forehand on set point. After going ahead 2-1 and 3-2 in set three with strong serves and groundstrokes, Venus committed
several forehand errors as Serena picked up her serving to reach a 5-3 lead.
Venus saved the first matchpoint of the night at 4-5 with a
crosscourt forehand winner. Two backhand errors from Serena saw Venus pull even at 5 all. Venus then went ahead 6-5 after mixing in a half volley
winner, a backhand slice approach and an ace out wide. Serena saved a matchpoint against her on her serve at 5-6 with a forehand down the line winner. Venus netted a forehand to allow Serena
to pull even to reach the third set tiebreaker.
Forceful play from both sisters saw Venus take a 3-2 lead in the tiebreaker. Venus then however lost four points in a row to fall behind
again matchpoint down at 3-6. Serena had attacked a Venus second serve with a forehand down the line return winner to reach matchpoint. Venus
would save a second matchpoint of the night before netting a forehand return long to end the match after two hours and ten minutes of play as
she was unable to play as consistent as needed at the end to stay in the match.
"It's probably one of our closest matches," Serena said. Venus added, "She always plays really tough, really challenging. She hit some
serves that I really couldn’t return."
