WIMBLEDON, England — Pretty much everyone is impressed by the way Venus and Serena Williams dominate at Wimbledon.
Even Roger Federer, who knows a thing or two himself about success at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.
“It seems when they’re playing well,” Federer said, “that there’s not much of a chance for the other girls.”
That is true, particularly when it comes to Wimbledon, where recent records and rankings don’t seem to have any bearing on how the Williams sisters fare. Remember: Serena Williams showed up at the All England Club with a 4-5 record since early April. Her older sibling Venus was not much better in that span, going 6-5. Both trail No. 1 Dinara Safina in the rankings.
And yet, if No. 2 Serena beats No. 4 Elena Dementieva in today’s semifinals, and No. 3 Venus gets past Safina, they would set up the fourth all-Williams title match at Wimbledon and the second in a row. As it is, one Williams or the other has won seven of the past nine championships here.
“I mean, it’s been quite incredible what Venus has been able to do here at Wimbledon also, winning five times, just being so consistent for so many years,” Federer said. “Serena, obviously having won the career Grand Slam already, since a long time has always been one of the biggest contenders for any major in the last few years. I like to watch them because they’re very powerful.”
Yes, there is little doubt who is expected to meet in Saturday’s final.
“You never know what could happen,” said eighth-seeded Victoria Azarenka, who lost to Serena 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals, “but I’m pretty sure they’re playing very good tennis, and they deserve to play in the final.”
It’s the first time the top four-seeded women all reached the semifinals at a major tournament since it happened at Wimbledon in 2006. Yet the matchups could hardly appear more lopsided.
Venus leads Safina 2-1 in previous meetings, while Serena leads Dementieva 5-3.
These statistics might be of more significance: Venus is 12-4 in Grand Slam semifinals with seven titles, and Safina is 3-1 with zero titles; Serena is 13-2 in Grand Slam semifinals with 10 titles, and Dementieva is 2-5 with zero titles.
Venus is bidding to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1991-93 to win Wimbledon three years in a row and is trying for her sixth title overall. Serena beat Venus in the 2002 and 2003 finals at the All England Club.
“We have a great game. We have strong serves. I think we have pretty good returns,” Serena said. “We both move pretty well. So I think that’s a pretty solid game.”
At a glance
A look at Wimbledon on Wednesday:
Men’s quarterfinals: No. 2 Roger Federer beat No. 22 Ivo Karlovic, No. 3 Andy Murray beat Juan Carlos Ferrero, No. 6 Andy Roddick beat Lleyton Hewitt, No. 24 Tommy Haas beat No. 4 Novak Djokovic.
Stat of the day: 2 — Number of times Federer broke the 6-foot-10 Karlovic’s serve. Karlovic had not been broken once in 79 service games through his first four matches in the tournament.
Quote of the day: “There’s a lot of respect there. We used to get into it a little bit when we were younger, but I think we definitely earned each other’s respect. Now we’re just a couple of old married dudes.” — Roddick, after his nearly four-hour match against longtime rival Hewitt
Today, women’s semifinals: No. 1 Dinara Safina vs. No. 3 Venus Williams, No. 2 Serena Williams vs. No. 4 Elena Dementieva.
On TV today: ESPN2, 5 a.m.; KUSA-9, noon
