(July 5, 2016) Serena and Venus Williams could be on a path to another family final. No. 1 Serena Williams had a 6-4, 6-4 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, while sister Venus joined select company beating 96th-ranked Yaroslava Shvedova 7-6(5), 6-2 to reach the semifinals at 36-years-old. Venus joins Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King as the only players to reach a major semifinal after turning 36.
“The good part is I always felt like I had the game,” said the eighth seeded Venus after the match. “This is always a plus, when you know you have the game. So you just have to keep working until things fall into place.”
This is the first time since 2009, that both sisters have reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in the same year. Both went on to reach the final where Serena won.
“I love playing the game, I always have,” Venus said. “When you’re winning matches it makes it that much sweeter. I can’t lie about that.”
“The wins and the losses they all lead to these big moments,” Venus said to media. “You can’t always have this big moment. If you’re Serena Williams, I guess that happens a lot. As Venus Williams, this is an awesome day.”
Venus will take on Australian Open champion and No. 4 seed Angelique Kerber who beat No. 5 Simona Halep 7-5, 7-6 (2). Kerber has a 3-2 career edge in head-to-head meetings against Venus.
Serena will play 50th-ranked Elena Vesnina who beat Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-2. Vesnina’s victory makes her the first unseeded woman in the final four of Wimbledon since 2010.
“It would be great,” Serena said about the chance to play her sister in the final on Saturday. “Obviously, she’s such a tough opponent. But I want her to win so bad – obviously not in the final if I’m there. But, if I’m not there, I desperately want her to win.”