Sizzling siblings

WIMBLEDON, England – A spot in her seventh Wimbledon final already secured, Venus Williams headed back to Centre Court to catch the end of the next match.

Scouting? Not really. More like rooting.

When Thursday’s second semifinal ended, Williams stood, smiling and applauding for the woman who won, the woman she will have to beat to earn a fifth championship at the All England Club: her younger sister, Serena.

The most unusual and, at times, uncomfortable rivalry in tennis is once more in the spotlight at the pinnacle of the sport: Venus will play Serena in their third all-in-the-family Wimbledon final Saturday.

It’s their seventh Grand Slam title match – Serena holds a 5-1 edge over her sister – but first final at any tournament since 2003.

“Our main focus is obviously both of us getting to the final,” Venus said. “Then, from there, it’s every Williams for themself.”

While there are, of course, differences in personality (Venus calls herself a nerd; Serena is more extroverted) and game (Venus’ serve is faster, for example, and Serena’s return is considered better), the siblings’ paths to what will be their 16th head-to-head matchup were remarkably similar.

Neither has lost a set in the tournament, and Venus won her semifinal 6-1, 7-6 (3) over fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia before Serena hit 14 aces in a 6-2, 7-6 (5) victory over 133rd-ranked Zheng Jie of China. Each Williams won 80 of the 141 points in her match.

How unsurprising were the results? Consider this: The sisters are a combined 100-13 at Wimbledon for their careers; Dementieva and Zheng are a combined 29-13.

“We’ve both been working extremely hard,” said Serena, who holds an 8-7 career edge over Venus. “It’s just coming together.”

Both have been ranked No. 1, but a combination of injuries and inactivity contributed to Venus being No. 7 now, and Serena No. 6. All of the top four-seeded women were gone by the quarterfinals, the first time that’s happened at Wimbledon, which cleared the way a bit for the sisters.

Then again, the way they’ve been playing over these two weeks, and the way they always seem to play on grass, who’s to say it would have made a difference?