Wimbledon, England – Venus Williams earned the sweetest victory yet in her career revival, beating 2004 champion Maria Sharapova 7-6 (2), 6-1 today in the rain-delayed Wimbledon semifinals.
Gritting her teeth in determination between points, Williams kept Sharapova on the run with the kind of overpowering shots that helped her win four major titles. After Sharapova hit a backhand wide on the second match point, Williams hopped for joy, threw her fists in the air and doubled over in laughter as the Centre Court crowd cheered.
“I’ve just been raising my form, and I love this tournament,” she said. “This is the surface for me.” Rain forced the suspension of the other semifinal until Friday with top-ranked Lindsay Davenport four points from the final. She led Amelie Mauresmo 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 5-3, love-15 when play was halted.
Williams is a two-time Wimbledon champion and two-time runner-up, but it has been nearly four years since her most recent Grand Slam championship. Seeded just 14th, she’ll play in a major final Saturday for the first time since sister Serena beat her for the 2003 Wimbledon title.
“Serena sent me an e-mail earlier, telling me what to do and to just stay in there and play my game and I was the best,” Williams said, laughing. “I guess I took that to heart.” The 18-year-old Sharapova, who was seeded second, hasn’t reached a major final since her surprising title run at Wimbledon a year ago. The loss snapped her grass-court streak of 22 consecutive victories.
“I don’t think I played my best tennis, but credit to her for not making me play my best,” Sharapova said. “This tournament means a lot to me, more than any other tournament. I guess there are more years to come.” In the men’s semifinals Friday, top-ranked Roger Federer will play No. 2 Lleyton Hewitt, and No. 3 Andy Roddick will face 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, who is staging a career comeback from a serious knee injury. It’s the first time since 1993 that all four men’s semifinalists have won major titles.
The women’s semifinals began after a delay of more than four hours. Because of the wait into the late afternoon, the Davenport-Mauresmo match was moved to Court 1, allowing the Sharapova-Williams match to start at the same time on Centre Court.
Dueling from the baseline, Williams matched Sharapova shot for shot and even grunt for grunt as both players hit with power and precision.
But Williams was steadier on the pivotal points. Sharapova, broken just once in the first five rounds, lost her serve four times, and Williams saved six of the seven break points against her.
Scrambling to stay in rallies, Sharapova four times resorted to hitting one-handed backhands with her left hand. She lost all four points. Williams finished with 23 winners to 13 for Sharapova.
The Russian rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the opening set, and her comeback included a spectacular running forehand crosscourt from beyond the doubles alley. Moments later, the sun briefly broke through for the only time all day.
It wasn’t an omen for Sharapova. Williams hit only one errant shot in the tiebreaker, then quickly went ahead to stay in the second set by breaking serve in the opening game.
Williams avenged her younger sister’s upset loss to Sharapova in last year’s final. Venus earlier upheld family pride with a fourth-round victory over Jill Craybas, who had upset two-time champion Serena less than 48 hours earlier.
Now 5-0 in Wimbledon semifinals, Venus has yet to lose a set in six rounds this year.