US Open 2015 results: Serena Williams defeats Venus Williams in epic showdown
By Josh Hill
The match of the tournament took place on Tuesday when Venus and Serena Williams went at it for the 27th time in their careers.
It’s hard to call something that has happened almost 30 times a rare occasion, but it’s no doubt always a special occasion when Serena and Venus Williams meet up in a tennis match. At the U.S. Open, there was more than just sibling rivalry on the line, as the younger of the sisters entered the match with history on the line, while Venus had a chance to play big sister and stand in the way of that.
The first set was all Serena, despite a hot start by Venus. The elder Williams sister jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first set before falling into a hole after the back-and-forth ended at 2-2. Serena just got hot, and her backhand was brutal to Venus trying to return serves and volleys.
While it looked like Serena was going to take the momentum she gained in the first set and end things in two, Venus came roaring back with a vengeance. Things looked more or less the same as the first set through the firs two games of the second set, but that’s when Venus turned it up on her sister.
Venus may have let the second set slip to a 1-1 tie, but from there she went on a tear to win the next five consecutive serves to force a final set for all the marbles. It was clear from the start of the final set though that Venus was reeling from the draining second set that took so much out of the sisters. Serena may have lost that set, but the blowout nature in which it happened allowed her to re-charge slightly more than her older sister.
It was all Serena in the third set, jumping out to a quick and dominating three-love lead. But Venus wasn’t going to just lie down and let her younger sister run away with the critical final set, and roared back to make things 4-2 late in the set. After an emotional sixth game, Serena pulled away and took a lead that looked decisive lead into a final game, but once again Venus hung around and made things 5-3 down the stretch.
Serena wasn’t to be stopped though, as she came through in the end to defeat her sister and advance to the U.S. Open semifinals.
Despite the fact that it’s happened 27 times now, it still feels rare to get a Serena-Venus Williams match in a major tournament. The stakes have never been higher than they were at the U.S. Open on Tuesday, and regardless of the outcome, we were all treated to one of the best installments in the greatest sibling rivalry we’ve seen in sports.