Venus Williams nears matchup with top-ranked sister
Venus Williams nears matchup with top-ranked sister
LONDON — Venus Williams is no longer the player she once was, on account of the passage of time and the day-to-day ups and downs of an energy-sapping condition.
[...] at age 35, 21 years removed from her first professional tournament, Williams still possesses a dangerous serve, along with the muscle memory that comes with seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon.
[...] though it is her younger sister Serena who is ranked No. 1, has 20 major titles and owns a 23-match Grand Slam winning streak as of Wednesday, the elder Williams is still in the draw at the All England Club, too — and the siblings are getting close to what would be their 26th all-in-the-family matchup on tour.
On the hottest day on record in Wimbledon history, with the temperature topping 95 degrees — and a terrific day for American women — both Williams sisters won second-round matches: 16th-seeded Venus beat 95th-ranked Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Four other women from the U.S. won Wednesday, including two real surprises: 158th-ranked qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands eliminated No. 7 Ana Ivanovic, the 2009 French Open champion, 6-3, 6-4; and 47th-ranked CoCo Vandeweghe, the niece of former NBA forward and executive Kiki, beat No. 11 Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Sure enough, I think we have a really strong contingent of American players and it’s really good to see.
No. 17 John Isner and 105th-ranked wild-card entry Denis Kudla, who followed his victory over No. 28 Pablo Cuevas by getting past 18-year-old Alexander Zverev.
No. 1 Serena Williams, No. 4 Maria Sharapova, No. 6 Lucie Safarova, No. 14 Andrea Petkovic, No. 16 Venus Williams, No. 21 Madison Keys (first-round match), No. 22 Sam Stosur, No. 23 Victoria Azarenka, No. 29 Irina-Camelia Begu, No. 30 Belinda Bencic.