Serena and Venus Williams have plenty of experience playing against each other. But you wouldn't have been able to tell that by the way the two played when they faced off for the 22nd career time on Wednesday in the WTA Tour Championships in Doha. It took Serena almost three hours and a full three sets (including a third set tiebreak) to top her older sister 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(4) in a somewhat sloppy match. They didn't play well at the same time until the last three games of the match, where the two finally seemed to put forth their best effort.
With Serena trailing 5-6 in the third, both players turned on the jets and provided the fans in Doha with a brief glimpse of what they were hoping to see throughout the match. Asked what changed for her late in the third, Serena said, "I just tried to relax. Whenever I relax, I play better." Seems simple enough.
Serena looked noticeably agitated in the first two sets. She appeared to be in some pain from her taped upper thigh, but agitation turned into motivation late in the third when Serena battled back against Venus who held one match point at 6-5. Serena held serve to force the third set tiebreak.
After a mostly dull back-and-forth match, the numbers show that it was actually an extremely close match. Serena had a slight edge over Venus, winning 120 total points to Venus' 119.
Both Williams sisters struggled to hold serve. Each broke the other seven times in the match. Venus was down 3-5 in the third set and went on a crucial three game winning streak to stay alive. Serena was able to hold her serve and force the tiebreak, where she won on a last-point ace to stay undefeated in Doha.
On Thursday, Serena is scheduled to play Elena Dementieva while Venus will take on Svetlana Kuznetsova. Reserve player Vera Zvonareva will fill in for the injured Dinara Safina in a match against Caroline Wozniacki.
