Sisters Divided by Net
In line with all expectations, the sisters Williams advanced to the yesterday’s final of Wimbledon tennis tournament in London. For this purpose, Venus crushed Russia’s Elena Dementieva, while Serena prevailed in the tough battle with the main sensation of the tournament, Zheng Jie of China.
Judging by the pre-match forecasts, Elena Dementieva had had no hope for the best in the match vs Wimbledon defending champion Venus Williams. Even Dementieva’s progress to the semi-finals could be viewed a minor sensation. Besides, Elena wore herself out in the three-set match with compatriot Nadia Petrova, while the path of Venus to traditional semi-final had been much smoother – Venus had needed no more than two sets to saw off her opponents, facing the top 50 players in two of five matches.
What’s more, Venus offers one of the most inconvenient tennis for Elena. The Russian prefers hasteless hits from the backline, rarely forcing the events and always waiting for mistakes of the opponent. But this tactic doesn’t work against Venus, who needs just a few hits in the playing off and is never discouraged by the great number of unforced errors.
Yesterday, Venus didn’t hold the ball in the game longer than four hits, driving the Russian from one corner to another and approaching the net in good time. The score was 4-0 when Dementieva managed to take a game, which was her single local success in the first set (1-6).
Elena recovered at 0-2 in the second set, she turned more aggressive to end the humiliation. The players were equal at last, but a powerful first serve was the greatest advantage of the American. Dementieva draw the second set to the tie-break, which she lost 3-7.
Having defeated the Russian, Williams next faces sister Serena, whose crushing serve stopped the sensational progress of China’s Zheng Jie. It will be the sixth Grand Slam final of the Williams family.
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All the Article in Russian as of July 04, 2008
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