Saturday, July 7, 2012

Williams sisters win Wimbledon doubles championship

Serena and Venus Williams won the Wimbledon doubles title today, defeating the Czech team of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 7-5, 6-4. It was a well-played match. In the first set, there were no breaks of serve until Hlavackova and Hradecka served at 5-6. They saved two break points, but were broken on the third. Then the Williams team got an early break in the second set, which propelled them to victory.

Serena and Venus Williams hadn't played doubles at Wimbledon in two years, so the win was especially sweet for them.

In the mixed doubles semifinals, top seeds Liezel Huber and Bob Bryan were beaten 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 by 4th seeds Elena Vesnina and Leander Paes. (Just a guess, but this was probably a delicious victory for Vesnina.) Their opponents in the final will be 2nd seeds Lisa Raymond and Mike Bryan, who defeated 3rd seeds Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjic 6-3, 6-4. This configuration means that the Bryan brothers will not have to play each other for the championship, nor will partners Huber and Raymond have to play each other.

Eugenie Bouchard of Canada is the 2012 junior Wimbledon champion. The aggressive Bouchard defeated Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-2 yesterday to claim the trophy. Bouchard was seeded 5th. In an unusual result for a junior competition, Bouchard hit 21 winners.

In the junior doubles semifinals, Svitolina and partner Daria Gavrilova, seeded 2nd, were defeated by 7th seeds Belinda Bencic and Ana Konjuh. Also winning in the semifinals were top seeds Bouchard and partner Taylor Townsend, who defeated 4th seeds Francoise Abanda and Sachia Vickery.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Williams vs H-H match was fun to watch.
Have to give credit to espn3 streaming for the coverage.

In addition, Lucie hit the tournaments fastest serve - 122 mph.

Too bad the WTA doesn't watch women's doubles. From https://bitly.com/LZ2OHX

"Wimbledon By The Numbers

120 - The speed in miles per hour of the fastest serve of the fortnight, hit first by Sabine Lisicki and then again by Serena Williams in her semifinal against Victoria Azarenka."

Diane said...

I'm glad ESPN showed it, too. As a rule, Tennis Channel is pretty good about showing doubles.