Venus Williams and Serena Williams will meet in the Women’s Finals of Wimbledon at the All England Club on Saturday July 4th.  It is the 2nd consecutive year that the 2 Williams sisters will meet in the Wimbledon finals.  Serena defeated big sis Venus in the 2002 and 2003 Wimbledon finals, while Venus defeated younger sister Serena last year.  Venus has won the last 2 Wimbledon titles and is bidding to win 3 in a row – the first time a woman has won 3 championships in a row since Steffi Graf did so from 1991 through 1993.  A Williams sister has won 7 of the last 9 Wimbledon championships.

The 2 sisters reached the finals in vastly different semi-finals matches.  Venus defeated top-seeded Dinara Safina in just 51 minutes – 6-1, 6-0.  She had this to say about her win:  “Oh, my God, this is my 8th final, and it’s a dream come true to be here again and have the opportunity to hold the plate up…  A fourth [of July] final – it’s so exciting.”

Serena saved one match point and defeated Elena Dementieva in 3 sets (6-7, 7-5, 8-6) in 2 hours and 49 minutes.  It was the longest women’s semifinals match since records started being kept in 1969.