Wimbledon 2016: Venus & Serena Williams through to semi-finals
Last updated on .From the section Tennis
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Five-time champion Venus Williams reached the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time since 2009 with victory over Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova.
Eighth seed Williams - at 36 the oldest Grand Slam semi-finalist for 22 years - beat unseeded Shvedova 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.
An all-Williams final remains possible after top seed Serena beat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 6-4.
In Thursday's semis, Serena will play Russia's Elena Vesnina and Venus will take on Germany's Angelique Kerber.
"We don't really talk too much about it but we are playing doubles later, so we are just happy to be in the semi-finals," Serena told BBC Sport.
Asked about a potential final meeting, she added: "It will be great. Venus is such a tough opponent I want her to win so bad - not in the final if I am there, but if I'm not, I do."
Kerber, the fourth seed, beat Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep 7-5 7-6 (7-2) in the opening match on Centre Court.
Unseeded Russian Vesnina thrashed Slovakian 19th seed Cibulkova 6-2 6-2 in the remaining quarter-final on court one.
Analysis
John McEnroe, three-time Wimbledon champion: "A lot of people are pulling for Venus to win one more Wimbledon final. She's won this competition five times, and it's often forgotten because of how dominant her sister has been. It's as though she's an after-thought.
"Serena stepped it up when she needed to and served incredibly well. It looks a real possibility Venus could play Serena in the finals of a Grand Slam again."
'I love playing the game'
Venus Williams showed she remains a real threat on the All England Club grass with an impressive win over world number 96 Shvedova.
The champion in 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008 made it through to her first Grand Slam semi-final since the 2010 US Open.
At 36, she is the oldest major semi-finalist since Martina Navratilova finished runner-up at Wimbledon in 1994.
"I love playing the game," said Williams, who slipped outside the world's top 100 in 2011 after being diagnosed with the immune system disease Sjogren's Disease. "When you're winning matches it makes it that much sweeter."
The American, who played her first Wimbledon in 1997, recovered from losing an early break to win the opening set tie-break from 5-2 down.
She then dominated the second set, racing into a 5-1 lead and holding off signs of a Shvedova comeback to serve out the win.
"What a tough day on the court," Williams added. "The tie-breaker, it felt like she would win. I felt like my opponent was on fire.
"I felt like the crowd enjoyed all the great points. She got them involved in the last game. We gave them good tennis today."
Top seed Serena finding top form
Serena Williams' presence in the semi-finals is far less of a surprise than that of her sister, but the world number one needed to be at her best to see off Pavlyuchenkova.
The American, 34, converted the only two break points of a desperately tight contest, the first with a crushing backhand return in the opening set, the second thanks to a Pavlyuchenkova double fault in the second.
Williams, the six-time and defending champion, fired down 11 aces and 29 winners as she closes in on a 22nd Grand Slam singles title.
"It was good," she said. "I am excited to be able to win and get through, it felt really good. I knew Venus was up 5-1 and then I saw [the result] on the court [scoreboard], so I was like 'Yay'.
"I am just trying to win my match. I knew I had a tough opponent and one thing I have learnt this year is just to focus on the match."
Vesnina completely dominated against Cibulkova, who appeared to run out of energy after a successful run that began with winning the Eastbourne title ahead of Wimbledon.
The Slovakian can at least take comfort that she does not have to postpone her wedding, which can now go ahead as planned on Saturday.
Seven breaks to six see Kerber through
Australian Open champion Kerber edged past Halep in a contest of terrific rallying, with returns very much dominating over serves.
There were eight successive breaks in the first set, and 13 in total, but the Centre Court crowd was thrilled by much of the shot-making.
Halep was always coming from behind before ultimately succumbing with a double-fault to hand over the first set, and despite twice recovering breaks in the second, a rash of errors gave Kerber a deserved win in the tie-break.
"I think actually it was a good match, on a really high level from both of us," said the German.
"There were a lot of breaks but I think because we are both great return players, it was not so easy to serve actually. It was a really high level match."
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Comments
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I work full time; if someone got paid the same for the same job 3 days a week, I'd be livid.
It does gender equality no favours when the 'equality' some women demand is not equal. It breeds resentment of our cause: it is not a victory.
I'm a woman; I expect to be treated equally, not preferentially.
on
5 minutes ago
"2. Posted by The_Bongos_of_Doom
Same pay for less work - can someone explain this to me please"
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Yes.
It's called equality
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It is hardly equality when Novak got paid $2m in winning the US Open in 2016 and his matches took around 16 hours. Serena earned $2m and her matches took around 8 hours. Not equal pay at all.
Good luck to her...class always outs
I hadn't realised they'd signed for Manchester United.
The top women have said over and over again they would be happy to play 5 sets but the Grand Slams don't want it. What more can they do?
If you don't enjoy women's tennis why bother to watch and then come online and whine about it?
... you'd have to pay me £KKKKs to get me to sit on a little chair at Wimbledon with my head going left / right.
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Good thing no one is paying you to do that then.
It's strange that you felt the need to come to an article that's clearly about tennis to tell people that you don't like tennis. That's like me calling up a takeaway and telling them I'm not hungry. Dim...
Truly a remarkable performance considering the horrendous illnesses she's had to overcome.
Good luck to her...
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It's stunning that she's been able to do this with Sjogren's Syndrome...hats off to Venus!
Venus Williams reaching a Slam Semi at 36 is pretty special and it takes talent to get there...which she has an abundance of !
Well done and good luck with the semis.
"In addition to the tennis a far more interesting sport will be on tv soon. The world watching paint dry championships!"
Well, it doesn't say much about your life when you actively seek out topics that you have no interest in, probably don't understand and then take more "precious" time to make some inane comment. What a tool.
Yeah OK.
on 11 minutes ago
2 HYS's on Tennis in the last 24 hours and they're both about the Williams sisters.
I hadn't realised they'd signed for Manchester United.
ooOOoo
Wow! Now there's an idea. They'd probably do a lot better than Wayne Rooney!
Don't you realise what a total plank you are making of yourself with your comment? If tennis bores you why are you reading this article? Why are you bothering to comment? Why are you????
When they lose a match, see them (esp snooty Serina) storm off the court head down in a huff not even bothering to acknowledge anyone and give nasty looks to anyone else.
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I guess those who never watch the game will read this and believe it true, the rest know better