Serena Williams Beats Sister Venus at Wimbledon

Venus Williams of U.S. reacts while playing sister Serena Williams of U.S. during their women's singles final on the Centre Court at Wimbledon, Saturday, July 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

(AP)

As they walked to the sideline at the first changeover, crossing paths, the sisters avoided any eye contact whatsoever. Serena looked down at her racket, fiddling with the strings, the way she does against anyone else.

Surnames usually suffice when chair umpires announce the score, but that wouldn't work for Saturday's official, Alison Lang, who needed to use first names, as in: "Miss Venus Williams leads, 2 games to 1, first set."

The wind swirled, the sun was bright as it peeked out from behind scattered clouds, and Venus kept catching her tosses on serves. That was the part of her game that was most dominant this fortnight, and the thing that let her down the most against Serena.

Venus wound up with more double-faults (three) than aces, and she was broken twice. Serena, meanwhile, saved the only two break points she faced.

Both came while Serena trailed 4-3 in the opening set, serving at 15-40. On the first, Serena hit a 94 mph serve to the backhand side that Venus returned wide. On the second, Serena charged forward, and Venus had a wide-open court, but she pushed a forehand passing try long.

"Went for a little too much," Venus said.

From deuce, Serena hit two aces, at 105 mph and 116 mph, to pull out the game.

They went to a tiebreaker, and Serena closed it with a lob that curled like a rainbow over her sister and landed in, no easy task when you consider Venus is 6-foot-1.

Serena wheeled around, her back to the court, and quickly celebrated with a pump of a fist, although no yells of "Yes!" or "Come on!" — one, tiny, indication she couldn't completely banish from her mind the thought that Venus was on the other side of the net. Then Serena walked to the sideline, her left fist clenched and her face blank.

The second set wasn't nearly as competitive, with Serena breaking to a 4-2 lead when Venus double-faulted. That was part of an eight-point run for Serena, whose only real trouble came when she tried to seal the victory.