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Serena regains the Venus Rosewater dish

— PHOTO: AFP

THAT WINNING FEELING: Serena Williams is ecstatic after getting the better of older sister Venus to win her third Wimbledon singles title on Saturday.

London: Famous sibling feuds may go back to Cain and Abel and beyond but few blood relatives might have battled each other in public as many times as Venus Williams and Serena Williams. And fewer still might have been quite as friendly with each other in private.

Beating up on a sister with the whole world watching is never an easy thing to do but these two remarkable athletes have done it time and again with tremendous professionalism and with not an iota of threat to their healthy sibling relationship back home.

If the women’s singles final of the 123rd Wimbledon championships, on Saturday, failed to match the 2008 climactic match, also featuring Venus and Serena, then it was largely because the younger sister played a brand of relentless attacking tennis to which the older one had no answers.

After winning a close first set in the tiebreak, Serena ran away with the match 7-6(3), 6-2 in an hour and 27 minutes to take the Venus Rosewater dish, a trophy she last held in 2003. It was Serena’s 11th Grand Slam title and she has now won three of the last four.

It is amazing how long the two have been playing each other and how they have managed to keep up the intensity in their contests. The first time they met was 11 years ago in the Australian Open when Serena was just getting into the pro ranks

Including Saturday’s final, they have played against one another 21 times and this victory saw Serena break the tie. She now leads 11-10. She also leads their Grand Slam head-to-head 6-2.

“It feels amazing. I feel blessed. She (Venus) always wins here. I am really excited,” said Serena.

Venus, who seemed a bit flat today, especially after losing the first set, promptly complimented her sister.

“Today she was too good. She had the answer for everything. I don’t think the loss has set in yet. I am still smiling,” said Venus.

This is the fourth time the two have met in the final here and Serena has come out on top on three occasions. Of course, from the very moment she landed here, Serena has been saying that it was going to be her year.

On Saturday, she was as good as her words. Against a player who had dropped just 19 games in advancing to the final and one who played almost point-perfect grass court tennis in the semifinals against Dinara Safina, the world No.1, Serena had to come up with top drawer stuff. And she did just that.

“Venus is running like a deer and Serena is hitting the ball as hard as man,” their father, Richard Williams, had said the other day, before leaving for the United States. He makes it a point not to be courtside when they contest a Grand Slam final.

Serena not only hit the ball hard, she covered the court with tremendous speed and served rocks when she needed to. More than all this, it was her body language that told us that this was a really hungry champion out there.

For sustained quality and shot-making skills, this contest did not match the one that Venus won last year. Yet, the first set saw some top quality tennis, especially after Serena got out of a hole (15-40 down on serve) in the eighth game with four big serves, two of them aces.

Serena hit 12 aces, many of them just when she needed them badly, and took command in the tiebreak quite early as she opened up a 3-1 lead. A great forehand cross-court pass gave her four setpoints and she closed out the set on the second.

The second set was a romp for Serena once Venus lost serve with a double fault in the sixth game. Serving to stay in the match in the eighth game, the five-time champion bravely fought off three matchpoints before a resolute Serena wrapped up the contest on the fourth.

THE RESULTS

Women’s singles: Final: 2-Serena Williams (U.S.) bt 3-Venus Williams (U.S.) 7-6(3), 6-2.

Men’s doubles: Finals: 2-Daniel Nestor (Can) & Nenad Zimonjic (Srb) bt 1-Mike Bryan & Bob Bryan (USA) 7-6(7), 6-7(3), 7-6(3), 6-3.

Mixed doubles: Semifinals: 9-Mark Knowles (Bah) & Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger) bt Jamie Murray (Gbr) & Liezel Huber (U.S.) 6-2, 7-5.

Girls singles: Final: 4-Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (Tha) bt Kristina Mladenovic (Fra) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

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