Venus Williams wins 5th singles title at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England — Sisters for life and doubles partners later in the afternoon, Venus and Serena Williams put all that aside for nearly two hours Saturday at Wimbledon, slugging serves and groundstrokes in each other's direction with a vengeance.

It had been five years since they had played a Grand Slam event singles final together, and the long wait resulted in one of their most intense and entertaining matches despite gusty conditions that sometimes made Centre Court feel more like a wind tunnel.

Despite a ferocious start from Serena, Venus was able to absorb the shock and gradually impose her presence on her favorite tennis court. Her 7-5, 6-4 victory gave her a fifth Wimbledon singles title and left Serena with two.

"I can't believe it's five, but when you're in the final against Serena Williams, five seems so far away from that first point," Venus said in her postmatch remarks to the crowd.

"She played so awesome. It was really a task to beat her."

Although Serena hugged her older sister at the net and was gracious on the court, this defeat was clearly a major blow to the 26-year-old, who has worked herself into fine shape this season but has not won a Grand Slam singles title since her surprise run at the 2007 Australian Open.

"I don't think I'm satisfied with the way I played today," Serena said. "For me, there's nothing to be satisfied about."

Serena beat Venus in their previous joint Wimbledon finals, in 2002 and 2003.

Venus, 28, also won titles in 2007, 2005, 2001 and 2000.

It was the number "five" that popped into her head immediately after she had secured the match on a backhand error by Serena.

"I think, definitely, winning this tournament so many times definitely puts you in the stratosphere, to be honest, just because of what this tournament means," Venus said. "I think had I had this achievement at any other tournament, it would have been awesome but not nearly the same meaning as at Wimbledon. I think the difference is just because of the prestige of the event."

Venus, seeded seventh this year, is certainly a different player on Wimbledon's grass courts. Her only other Grand Slam event singles titles came at the U.S. Open in 2000 and 2001. Unlike Serena, she has never won the game's other two Grand Slam tournaments: the Australian Open and French Open. Injuries and health concerns, including anemia last year, have hindered Venus' training and her performance.

"She's taking her medication that she should be taking and doing much better," said Oracene Price, the sisters' mother and co-coach. "She was having asthma last year, and she'd never had asthma."

But Wimbledon seems to be a cure for whatever ails Venus, and though she had not reached the final of any tournament this season, she swept through the draw here without dropping a set. Her draw in the early rounds was weak, but this was a tournament where weak draws were no guarantee of safe passage, with the No. 1 seed Ana Ivanovic, No. 2 Jelena Jankovic, No. 3 Maria Sharapova and No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova each losing to players ranked far below them.

The upsets meant Venus did not have to face a seeded player until the semifinals, where she defeated No. 5 Elena Dementieva, a Russian with a rather soft serve whose best results have not come on grass. But there was no doubt she beat a quality grass-court player in the final.

Venus came to net 18 times and lost a mere three points when she did.

Serena failed to convert on 11 of her 13 break points, as Venus frequently jammed her by hitting serves into the body.

In the first game of the second set, she held serve after hitting the fastest serve ever recorded by a woman at Wimbledon: 129 mph.

"I knew what she was doing," Serena said. "It was very readable."

Meanwhile, in the doubles final, the sisters defeated Lisa Raymond of the United States and Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-2, 6-2.

Federer vs. Nadal

in men's final today

Once again, it will be top-ranked Roger Federer of Switzerland against No. 2 Rafael Nadal of Spain for the Wimbledon men's title.

Today Federer is seeking his sixth consecutive Wimbledon championship.

Nadal has the advantage in their head-to-head meetings, winning 11 of their 17 matches, including the last three. But all three of those were on clay, a surface Nadal has dominated the last four years like no man since Bjorn Borg.

Nadal has not defeated Federer on grass, losing the last two Wimbledon finals. No man has beaten Federer on a grass court since 2002.

"Everybody can talk a lot, because everybody is free to say what they think," Nadal said. "But finally, the whole important thing is what's happening tomorrow, no?"

Both men are serving extremely well, with Federer putting 66 percent of his first serves in play here and Nadal 72 percent. More important, they are each winning more than 80 percent of the points when that first serve is in play.