Though both the Williams sisters made it to the women’s doubles finals of the Wimbledon tournament after beating Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova, only one of the siblings qualified for the coveted women’s singles decider.
Venus Williams was defeated 6-4, 6-4 by fourth seed Angelique Kerber, the loss dashing her hopes for a fifth Wimbledon final match against her sister Serena, and of becoming the oldest contender, in 22 years, for the Wimbledon crown.
Meanwhile, Serena torpedoed her way into her ninth Wimbledon final in record time. It took her just under 49 minutes to crush Elena Vesnina – the fastest ever semi-final result for the All England Club. She will now be competing against Angelique Kerber for a seventh crown at the tournament.
At the final, Kerber and Williams will be meeting on a grass surface for the first time. Their five previous encounters have been on hard courts, and Serena has been the victor in every one of them.
For the women’s doubles finals, the Williams sisters will both happily be on the same side of the net, ruling out any ‘awkwardness’ that would have arisen from a clash between them for the singles crown.