In All-Williams Battle, Serena Rallies Past Venus to Reach Lexington Quarterfinals
(August 13, 2020) In round 31 of the Williams’ sisters tennis rivalry, younger sister Serena, 38, increased her head-to-head lead over older sister Venus, 40, to 19-12 in a back-and-fourth second round 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory at the Top Seed Open in Lexington, Kentucky on Thursday.
“It definitely felt more relaxed than the stadium at Wimbledon or at the U.S. Open,” Serena said of the match, played on a small court with no fans. “But it still is not like the practice courts, but it’s never easy.”
Serena started off with a with a 2-0 lead in the opening set, but Venus rebounded with five straight games, six out of the next seven to capture the set 6-3.
Serena reversed course in the second set breaking serve in the seventh game and leveling the match at 3-6, 6-3.
Venus jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the third set winning three straight games, but the 23-time major winner, took four straight games to seal the win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“This was a real match with real points and real consequences,” said seven-time major champion Venus. “I basically played two finals in a row,” (playing former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka in the first round and playing Serena in the second round.)
“I just ran out of time there, is kind of what it felt like,” Venus added. “I played well, I handled it well.”
“It was a high quality match, Venus is playing really, really good.” Serena said. “It was a lot of long points, running me around.”
“I’ve lost a few tight sets lately, so I was telling myself I really wanted to win this one and try to focus on those last two games,” Serena said in her on-court interview.
“I honestly didn’t come here to win. For the first time in my career, I came here to win some matches and see what happens. I haven’t had this much time off since the baby, so now I’m just trying to get some rhythm and see what happens.”
No. 1 seed Serena will face-off against wild card Shelby Rogers. Other winners advancing to the quarterfinals were: Jil Teichmann and CiCi Bellis.
Top Seed Open
August 10-16, 2020
Lexington, KY, USA
$202,250
RESULTS – AUGUST 13, 2020
Singles – Second Round
[1] S. Williams (USA) d V. Williams (USA) 36 63 64
J. Teichmann (SUI) d [5] Y. Putintseva (KAZ) 62 62
[WC] S. Rogers (USA) d [Q] L. Fernandez (CAN) 62 75
C. Bellis (USA) d J. Pegula (USA) 63 62
Doubles – Quarterfinals
[1] A. Guarachi (CHI) / D. Krawczyk (USA) d J. Loeb (USA) / I. Neel (USA) 46 64 10-4
[4] H. Carter (USA) / L. Stefani (BRA) d [WC] B. Mattek-Sands (USA) / S. Stephens (USA) 64 64
M. Bouzkova (CZE) / J. Teichmann (SUI) d K. Christian (USA) / G. Olmos (MEX) 64 75
A. Blinkova (RUS) / V. Zvonareva (RUS) d M. Linette (POL) / J. Pegula (USA) 76(6) 46 11-9
ORDER OF PLAY – FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2020
CENTER COURT start 11:00 am
C. Bellis (USA) vs J. Teichmann (SUI)
Not Before 12:30 pm
[1] S. Williams (USA) vs [WC] S. Rogers (USA)
Not Before 2:00 pm
J. Brady (USA) vs M. Bouzkova (CZE)
[8] O. Jabeur (TUN) vs C. Gauff (USA)
COURT 2 start 1:00 pm
[4] H. Carter (USA) / L. Stefani (BRA) vs A. Blinkova (RUS) / V. Zvonareva (RUS)
