Serena beats Venus in final; sisters win doubles title

WIMBLEDON, England -- Serena Williams kept telling herself she was facing just another foe in the Wimbledon final yesterday, just another woman who hits the ball quite hard, just another player trying to deny her a Grand Slam title.

She wasn't facing just anyone, of course. She was playing her older sister Venus. And when the latest all-Williams final finished, when Serena wrapped up a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 victory for a third Wimbledon championship and 11th major title overall, she jogged to the net with her arm extended for a handshake.

Venus pulled her close for a warm embrace, instead.

"I didn't think about Venus at all today. I just saw her as an opponent," said Serena, who also beat her sister in the 2002 and 2003 finals at the All England Club. "At one point, after the first set, I looked on the side of the court at the stats, and it was like 'Williams,' 'Williams.' I couldn't figure out which was which."

Serena has won three of the past four Grand Slam titles and even poked a little fun at No.1-ranked Dinara Safina, who is 0-3 in major finals.

"If you hold three Grand Slam titles, maybe you should be No.1, but not on the WTA Tour, obviously," Serena said. Then, alluding sarcastically to two less-than-major events won by Safina, Serena doubled over in laughter after saying: "I see myself as No.2. That's where I am. I think Dinara did a great job to get to No.1. She won Rome and Madrid."

It was the 14th Grand Slam final for each Williams; no other active woman participated in more than four. Serena is 11-3 in such matches; Venus fell to 7-7 five Wimbledon and three U.S. Open titles with all but one defeat coming against her sister.

Serena had more winners, 25-14, more aces, 12-2, and fewer unforced errors, 12-18.

About 3½ hours after their match ended, Serena and Venus returned to Centre Court and capped their domination of the tournament by winning a second consecutive Wimbledon doubles championship. Slapping palms between points, the sisters beat Australians Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs 7-6 (4), 6-4 to collect their ninth women's doubles Grand Slam title, fourth at Wimbledon.

"Nothing like winning a title with your sister," Serena said.

During the singles final, the Center Court crowd of about 15,000 was not altogether sure for whom to cheer, going stretches without supporting either sister. Mom sat in the stands with arms crossed, while Dad had already left town, because he refuses to watch his daughters play each other.

As they walked to the sideline at the first changeover, crossing paths, the sisters avoided any eye contact whatsoever. Serena looked down at her racket, fiddling with the strings, the way she does against anyone else.

Venus wound up with more double-faults (three) than aces, and she was broken twice. Serena, meanwhile, saved the only two break points she faced.

Both came while Serena trailed 4-3 in the opening set, serving at 15-40. On the first, Serena hit a 94 mph serve to the backhand side that Venus returned wide. On the second, Serena charged forward, and Venus had a wide-open court, but she pushed a forehand passing try long.

"Went for a little too much," Venus said.

From deuce, Serena hit two aces, at 105 mph and 116 mph, to pull out the game.

They went to a tiebreaker, and Serena closed it with a lob that curled like a rainbow over her sister and landed in, no easy task when you consider Venus is 6-foot-1.

The second set wasn't nearly as competitive, with Serena breaking to a 4-2 lead when Venus double-faulted. That was part of an eight-point run for Serena, whose only real trouble came when she tried to seal the victory.

She wasted her first three match points, before Venus dropped a backhand into the net on the fourth. Serena closed her eyes, rolled her head back and dropped to her knees.

Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia won their second straight Wimbledon men's doubles title, beating top-seeded American twins Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 (7), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-3.