Serena saves family pride as sister Venus gone

June 30, 2010 04:26 pm | Updated 04:26 pm IST - WIMBLEDON

Serena Williams

Serena Williams

Venus and Serena Williams crossed paths in the locker room at the All England Club, something the sisters often do during the second week of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.

This meeting came midway through the Wimbledon quarterfinals, and they paused to chat.

Serena was about to play her match. Venus was finished with hers - and it was a loss, a stunning upset against a player ranked 82nd who never before had been past the second round in 18 previous major tournaments.

So much for a fifth all-in-the-family final at Wimbledon.

Venus doubled-faulted five times, made a total of 29 unforced errors and was beaten 6-2, 6-3 by Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria, the lowest-ranked woman still in the draw.

“I would have loved to have been around, you know, to come close and hopefully make it an all-Williams final this year,” Venus said. “But that won’t be.”

Over and over, she would shank a shot, then turn toward the Court 1 player guest box where her parents were seated and put her palms up or shrug her shoulders, as if to indicate, “I don’t know what’s happening here.”

“Didn’t do myself any favours,” the No. 2-seeded Venus said. “I missed all shots today - forehand, volley, backhand. You know, if there was a shot to miss, I think I missed it.”

Venus participated in eight of the past 10 women’s finals, losing to her sister three times, including in 2009. She beat Serena for the 2008 title.

Tuesday’s match was the older Williams’ 77th in singles at the All England Club, and never had she won so few games. The only time she’s been beaten at Wimbledon by someone ranked lower than Pironkova was all the way back on June 28, 1997, when the American lost her tournament debut to No. 91 Magdalena Grzybowska.

Really, the only factor preventing this result from truly being considered one of the sport’s biggest upsets ever is that Pironkova has done it before. She defeated Williams at the 2006 Australian Open.

Still, even the first woman representing Bulgaria to make it to the final four at a Grand Slam tournament in the 42-year Open era was not anticipating this.

“No one expected me to (reach a) semifinal in Wimbledon,” Pironkova said, “and to beat Venus Williams like that.”

Surely, Pironkova herself believed this was possible, right?

“If I have to be honest- no,” she said. “Coming here, I really just wanted to play a good game, to maybe win one or two rounds. But (a) semifinal looked, to me, very far.”

Well, now she’s there.

On Thursday, Pironkova will face No. 21 Vera Zvonareva of Russia. Unlike Pironkova, Zvonareva at least can boast of some experience at this stage, having reached the 2009 Australian Open semifinals.

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