E-Paper
Venus Williams does what Serena couldn't
Less than 48 hours after sister Serena lost to Jill Craybas, Venus Williams avenged her defeat and strode powerfully in to the quaterfinals.
The second Monday at Wimbledon offers the rare treat of all 16 men's and women's fourth-round matches, and on this particular afternoon there was the even rarer sight of Venus Williams playing confident, mistake-free tennis.
Less than 48 hours after sitting with chin on hand while watching her sister Serena lose to Jill Craybas, Williams strode onto the same court against the same opponent, more concerned with righting her own game than restoring family pride.
She managed to do both. Williams won the first six games and the last six to overwhelm Craybas 6-0, 6-2, looking a lot more like the player who won Wimbledon and the US Open in 2000 and 2001 than one who hasn't reached a Grand Slam semifinal in two years. Asked whether facing someone who just beat Serena particularly pumps her up, Williams looked down and laughed.
"I definitely would like to do it a little bit for my sister," she said, then paused before adding this telling phrase: "but mostly for me."
Williams tracked down Craybas' shots to the corners and won 13 of 14 points at the net. She limited her unforced errors to four in the first set, and after falling behind 2-0 in the second, Williams broke back at love.
"She was really fired up today," Craybas said. "She definitely has a chance to win the tournament."
Williams is having a severe drought of titles withy only one win in the past 13 months, and that too was a lower-level event where she didn't face anyone ranked above 39th.
It couldn't have been easy to go from No. 1 in the world to No. 2 in her family, reaching Slam final after Slam final, only to lose to little sis. Add in the shooting death of her half-sister, plus assorted injuries, and there are plenty of explanations for the elder Williams' slide to 16th in the rankings.
"I've always felt like she's just a few matches away from getting a lot of confidence back," said Lindsay Davenport, who beat Kim Clijsters. "The last 12 or 14 months haven't gone the way her career began for her, and she's still out there battling."
Williams' father, Richard, said Serena headed home to have a doctor check her injured left ankle. But their mother watched Venus.
"Venus is on a good trail right now," Richard Williams said.
