Richard Williams danced in the aisle of Wimbledon Centre Court as his daughter Venus Williams (20) popped a 118m.p.h. serve past the disbelieving world number One Martina Hingis.
In that final aggressive act, Venus secured the second semi-final place, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, in the top half of the Wimbledon championships draw, which now brings her against her sister Serena.
The younger of the two Americans, 18-year-old Serena, had earlier beaten compatriot Lisa Raymond 6-2, 6-0 to set up the potential family conflict.
The eccentric Richard has declared he will not watch the two siblings compete against each other in what will be only the third time in the history of the championships that sisters have met in the women's singles draw. It is also the first time since tennis went professional in 1968.
The paring has captured the tennis world's imagination, not least because they are also close friends. The sisters have previously met in other finals, the latest in the 1999 Compaq Grand Slam Cup, where Serena walked away with a $900,000 cheque, the most lucrative winning prize in tennis.
The two had been rumoured to be avoiding each other, apparently under the directions of their father.
"Serena was a cheater. I just rolled with it," said 20-year-old Venus after her match. "It's tough to argue against Serena because she was so good at arguing, so good at cheating it was no use."
Serena, however, was clear about the primacy of her family harmony over what is being sold as "just a tennis match". "There will be no sibling rivalry between the two of us," said Serena.
Tomorrow we'll see if that is true.
