Black Tennis Pros

Serena Williams during quarterfinal play in Stanford, California at the Bank of the West Classic

2012 Wimbledon Women's Singles Champion Serena Williams is through to the US Open Series Bank of the West Classic semifinals in Stanford, California.

Though quite fatigued from just winning her fifth Wimbledon crown, as well as not sleeping through last night, Serena out played South African Chanelle Scheepers 6-4, 6-0 making it through to the semifinals in her quest to defend her 2011 title here.


In her post-match interview Serena said that "this is where it all began last year..." as she was coming off of various injuries and serious health related issues. She also said "I said I would come... and that is why I am here."

On Saturday Serena will meet Sorana Cirstea of Roumania. Cirstea defeated Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-0.

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Venus Williams might have come up short in her bid for a third Bank of the West Classic singles title. However, she still managed to walk away with one championship trophy. One hour after falling shy in a three-set loss to Marion Bartoli in the tournament’s singles title match, Venus Williams and teammate Serena Williams cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 victory in the doubles final over the team of Yung-Jan Chan and Monica Niculescu.

The title was the third this year for the Williams sisters, as the duo also captured the crowns at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. It is the 15th championship overall for the Williams sisters and the first non-Grand Slam doubles title since 1999.

Serena Williams and Venus Williams enjoyed a dominating run through the tournament, never allowing more than four games to an opponent.

Playing together for the first time, Chan and Niculescu were also impressive during the week. Unseeded in the draw, Chan and Niculescu’s signature moment came during the quarterfinals in the form of a 7-5, 6-3 victory over the top-seeded team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber.

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No matter how American Venus Williams begged and pleaded with herself on Sunday at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, Calfornia, she was not able to bring the brilliance of her game that she had just displayed on the previous two consecutive nights against Russians Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva.

This is the second meeting between Venus and Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli. In the Wimbledon 2007 final Venus showed Bartoli a thing or two and defeated her. Bartoli has just evened the score by defeating Venus 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 and earning the Bank of the West Classic title.

“I’m more experienced since that Wimbledon final," said Bartoli. "I’ve grown a lot and know what to do on big points. I can run a lot and I wanted to make Venus play one extra shot on every point.”

Venus, the former 2000 and 2002 titleholder of this event said, “Marion played really well,” Williams said. “I couldn’t find my game. I was fighting myself a lot and I couldn’t find the court. I’m not used to that.”

“Venus is one of the greatest champions ever,” Bartoli said. “That’s what I practice for, to play her. To beat her is even better.”

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I love the way American Venus Williams nearly takes Russian Maria Sharapova's head off at the Bank of the West Classic Friday night, then waves as if she's a delicate flower in a beauty pageant.

Venus stepped onto the Stanford, California court with her eye on the ball and didn't take it off until she had picked Sharapova apart in a straight sets 6-2, 6-2 win.

Can you spell s-m-a-c-k-d-o-w-n Maria? Wow!

One of the more interesting aspects to me was the pre-match hype of a showdown. Have those who thought that it would be such seen Sharapova play lately?

I had no idea that Venus would come out and clean girlies clock like that, but I definitely didn't see Sharapova taking Venus out.

Post match Venus said, "I enjoy playing against Maria, one of my favorite matchups. Her game matches up well for my game."

"I thought I could have played a little more consistently, but I guess I can't complain too much," Venus said.

"She did many things better than I did today," Sharapova said. "She was just aggressive the whole way through."

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At the Bank Of The West Classic in Stanford, California on Thursday, American sisters Venus and Serena Williams set up their quarterfinal matches with wins over Russian Alla Kudryavtseva and Hungary's Melinda Czink respectively.

Serena started the day with a 6-3, 7-6 (7) win over Melinda Czink. After looking strong in the first set, Williams trailed the entire second set until prevailing in the tiebreaker.

Subsequently, Venus cruised to a 6-1 win in the first set and looked to be in complete control midway through the second frame with a 5-3 lead. But Alla Kudryavtseva won back-to-back games to tie the set at 5-5 before Williams swiped the next two games for a 6-1, 7-5 triumph.

In Friday's quarterfinal matches Venus will go up against Russian Maria Sharapova, and Serena against Australian Samantha Stosur. I think the Serena/Samantha match will be the one to watch.

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American sisters Venus and Serena Williams continued to be the ire of their doubles team opponents. On Wednesday they brought the hammer and nine aces down on Latvia's Lisa Dekmeijere and American Julie Ditty in a 6-1, 6-0 defeat.

"I can't get a better partner," Serena said. "I just don't think so. She gets everything; she has a great volley, an incredible serve. It honestly doesn't get better than that."

Venus said the pair has a covert mission already in the works when it comes to doubles play.

"About a year ago we started to play more, trying to get ready for the Olympics," she said. "After that we kind of kept playing. We have this secret goal that I can't really talk about, but we have this goal, and once we started playing we started winning. You have to be in a little bit better shape and really healthy and willing to be a little more tired for your singles but it's a sacrifice we're willing to make."

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STANFORD, Calif. — "Shhhh," hushed Serena Williams when asked about the rankings system in women's tennis that seems askew with public perception. "They already think I'm No. 1."

The computer, however, says otherwise.

Despite winning three of the last four majors, No. 2 Williams sits behind Dinara Safina of Russia by a substantial 1,742 points. Safina supplanted Williams atop the rankings in April but has never won a Grand Slam title.

That rankings dissonance continued to spark debate at the Bank of the West Classic here as Williams geared up for her first event since winning a third Wimbledon title.

"The only thing that gets under my skin is that everyone keeps talking about it and so now people know that I'm not No. 1," laughed Williams, who opened her summer hardcourt campaign Tuesday night with a 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) victory against Li Na of China.

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(AP) STANFORD, Calif. — Back from her post-Wimbledon down time, Venus Williams didn't need long to get warmed up at the Bank of the West Classic.

It wasn't always pretty.

While she looked far from sharp at times as she missed shots long and sent others into the net, the second-seeded Williams pulled out enough of her top shots to beat Stephanie Dubois of Canada 6-2, 6-3 in a first-round match at Stanford on Tuesday night.




Williams' sister, Serena, was set to take the court next at Stanford in the $700,000 event. They are also playing doubles together, which will be more of a focus for the duo in the coming months.

"We kind of have this secret goal I can't talk about," Venus Williams said.

After neither player held serve through the first three games of the opening set, Williams then cruised the rest of the way in the first meeting between the two.

"It was a great match to get my rhythm, hit a lot of balls and work on my shots," said Williams, who won titles here in 2000 and '02. "It's all about the mentality. I usually adjust pretty quickly. ... I do want to try new and different things."

Still a little spacey — she admitted to some "brain freeze" — after a few weeks of sleeping in and relaxation following her Wimbledon runner-up showing to Serena, Williams said: "We love playing in L.A. I'm sorry, not L.A., I mean California. It feels like home for us."

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In first round action at the Bank Of The West Classic, Stanford, California today, Serbian Jelena Jankovic brought the rain and five aces today as she defeated American Angela Haynes 6-3, 6-1.

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This afternoon at the Olympus U. S. Open Series, Bank of the West Classic Tournament on the Stanford University campus, American Serena Williams had to withdraw from her semifinal match against Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak with a knee injury. The score at her retirement was 6-1, 3-1.

Serena was obviously not at her best from point one. Her movement was very poor, she was over hitting the ball and quite frankly, did not seem in the best of moods. After a short while of play, the reason became apparent; she was being bothered by a bad knee. The injury appears to be to the same knee [left] on which she had surgery in 2003.

As it should be, Wozniak was really not concerned about Serena's knee, she was playing as if Serena was firing on all cylinders. It was actually kind of amusing to watch. Wozniak took nothing for granted about a potentially injured Serena, she took advantage of the situation and played her game. I don't blame her! Taking it to Serena Williams is not an opportunity that other players often get, seize the moment.

Hopefully this is a small kink and Serena will be able to get healthy in short order and get back on the court.

Get well soon Serena!

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While Big sister Venus was all glammed up and attending the ESPY Awards last night, American Serena Williams was busy toiling away at the Bank Of The West Classic at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California last night.

Top seed Williams played the feature night match and picked up right where she left off during her run to the final of Wimbledon, beating qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. The 15-year-old Larcher de Brito came out on fire, hitting her big ground strokes to perfection in building a 6-4 2-0 lead; the more experienced Williams was far from finished in her career debut at the Bank of the West Classic, however, rallying to win in three sets under the lights.

"I never underestimate anyone, especially when they play me, because they'll always bring out their best game," Williams said. "In a way it was surprising, but you've just got to deal with it. I had a plan and I started playing better, and it's encouraging for me to bounce back after losing the first set."

"I started off really well; I slowed down a little bit, but overall I was playing well the whole match," Larcher de Brito said. "Obviously she played such a great game. She's Serena Williams. I didn't have anything to lose and I gave it my all.

"I was getting close to an upset, but now I have a lot of things to work on, and a lot of years ahead of me."

Although Serena Williams is playing the Bank of the West Classic for the first time, the Williams brand has done very well at the Tier II stop in the past. Venus made the final in six of seven trips to Stanford, winning the title twice, in 2000 (beating Lindsay Davenport in the final) and 2002 (beating Kim Clijsters).

"I've never been able to make it here," Williams added. "I'm happy that I'm here. There's a nice atmosphere and it feels good to play in Stanford."

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