Venus Williams Shows Dinara Safina Who's the Real No1 in Wimbledon Semi-final
Venus Williams has reached the Wimbledon final after a ruthless 6-1, 6-0 thrashing of world No1 Dinara Safina
Venus Williams earned her fourth Wimbledon final against Serena with a win which was as banal as her sister's had been uplifting. The defending champion's 6–1, 6–0 victory over Dinara Safina, the world No1, disappointed the crowd, upset her opponent, and made the ranking system look bizarre.
From the moment Safina went on court having just said "I have to enjoy it and play my best tennis – it's the only chance I have", it appeared that she never thought she could win. She may never have thought, though, that she would gain only 20 points in the match and be off again in only 52 minutes.
It was embarrassing. Safina had Williams at break point down in the third game, at which stage the title-holder launched a flashing serve at 125mph. The Russian was then 40-15 up on her own delivery before finding the American's return was becoming as potent as her serve, denying her four points in a row and costing a double break.
Safina then found it harder and harder to time the ball consistently on the surface she likes least, and 11 points had slid demoralizingly away before she could halt the damage. In some ways it was worse when the crowd gave her a consoling applause for taking the penultimate game of that set. Such humiliations should not happen to someone whose name stands proudly at the top of the draw.
In the second set Safina's mind became scrambled and she missed a dreadful sitter from close to the net while going 0–3 down. She then served a double-fault to go 0–5 and left the stadium looking hurt.
She may have been suffering from her persistent knee injury, but later suggested that the debacle happened because of the way in which Williams plays on grass. "She just straight away puts me under pressure from the first point," Safina said. "And then of course she pushed me to shots that I'm not comfortable with."
Williams sprung to a feisty defence both of her opponent and of the ranking system, and even of women's tennis, which she felt had been under attack from a questioner who suggested that it was embarrassing to see the No1 destroyed in that way. "Why do you put it like that?" Williams said, adding: "Are you trying to be down on women's tennis?"
It was put to her that it was more a matter of being down on the way Safina is the world No1 representing women's tennis, after which Williams said: "I don't do down." She added: "I'm just trying to make sure you're not being down, because I respect Dinara Safina immensely, and I think you should too."
As for her final opponent, "I'm still the big sister," she said. "But I'm still gonna play great tennis."
From the moment Safina went on court having just said "I have to enjoy it and play my best tennis – it's the only chance I have", it appeared that she never thought she could win. She may never have thought, though, that she would gain only 20 points in the match and be off again in only 52 minutes.
It was embarrassing. Safina had Williams at break point down in the third game, at which stage the title-holder launched a flashing serve at 125mph. The Russian was then 40-15 up on her own delivery before finding the American's return was becoming as potent as her serve, denying her four points in a row and costing a double break.
Safina then found it harder and harder to time the ball consistently on the surface she likes least, and 11 points had slid demoralizingly away before she could halt the damage. In some ways it was worse when the crowd gave her a consoling applause for taking the penultimate game of that set. Such humiliations should not happen to someone whose name stands proudly at the top of the draw.
In the second set Safina's mind became scrambled and she missed a dreadful sitter from close to the net while going 0–3 down. She then served a double-fault to go 0–5 and left the stadium looking hurt.
She may have been suffering from her persistent knee injury, but later suggested that the debacle happened because of the way in which Williams plays on grass. "She just straight away puts me under pressure from the first point," Safina said. "And then of course she pushed me to shots that I'm not comfortable with."
Williams sprung to a feisty defence both of her opponent and of the ranking system, and even of women's tennis, which she felt had been under attack from a questioner who suggested that it was embarrassing to see the No1 destroyed in that way. "Why do you put it like that?" Williams said, adding: "Are you trying to be down on women's tennis?"
It was put to her that it was more a matter of being down on the way Safina is the world No1 representing women's tennis, after which Williams said: "I don't do down." She added: "I'm just trying to make sure you're not being down, because I respect Dinara Safina immensely, and I think you should too."
As for her final opponent, "I'm still the big sister," she said. "But I'm still gonna play great tennis."
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