Williams sisters inch closer to the final

WIMBLEDON WOMEN’S SINGLES: MARIA SHARAPOVA has departed

WIMBLEDON WOMEN'S SINGLES:MARIA SHARAPOVA has departed. She has been joined by third seed Caroline Wozniacki and fourth seed Jelena Jankovic.

Yesterday was a day where Serena Williams stamped her authority on the championships as she and her sister Venus inched towards another family meeting on Saturday.

Serena and yesterday’s opponent, Sharapova, took to the Centre Court and an eerie calm fell over the stadium. Two uncompromising players reduced the opening exchange of their fourth round meeting to brief, violent episodes, neither suggesting they would contemplate taking a step back. Inevitably someone had to fracture as the first set was reduced to a sequence of blow, grunt and a fist pump, Sharapova summoning all of her fighting spirit to go toe to toe with the world number one and defending champion. It was the Russian-born former winner, who blinked first.

Not quite where she needs to be after a year of frustration with a shoulder injury, it was Sharapova’s day to prove her body was sound but Williams’ day for revenge. The two hadn’t met on grass since Sharapova beat the American in the 2004 Wimbledon final.

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It was Williams who set the tempo and tone. On service, her first was an ace. Her second ace came at the third point. She then double faulted and aced Sharapova again for 1-0. And so it continued. Anything loose, anything hoppy, left Centre Court in a tennis ball body bag. Finally a tiebreak was introduced to separate the two.

As serves fell and both players patched up, it was Sharapova who dipped when she double-faulted for 10-9. After 57 minutes Williams needed little invitation and aced her for the set 7-6 (11-9). That deflated the game somewhat as Sharapova had to chase. But Williams kept her levels high, earned just one break point in the second set and took it more easily for 6-4.

“I thought I played really well and had my chances. If it was not for her really great serving I thought I had a really good chance of winning the match,” said Sharapova. “I got a few looks at her serve in the first. But even when you got a good look the ball was coming at you in the 120s (mph).”

Williams hit 19 aces in the match and in both sets won more than 80 per cent of her first serves, 88 per cent in the second. She now meets China’s Li Na, who beat the Polish seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska.

The natural temperance of Kim Clijsters gave her a real chance of remaining in the championships until the weekend. Despite falling in the first set to Belgian rival Justine Henin, Clijsters was content to bide her time until early in the second set before setting about hitting her more trophied opponent into the departure lounge.

Bigger off the ground but with Henin holding a 3-1 edge on their previous grass meetings in what was their 22nd Tour level meeting, Henin complained of an elbow injury during the match and was forced to call a physiotherapist and take a medical time out.

She was undecided in how it affected her game but after a 6-2 first set it looked as though Clijsters was the one going home. The first mother to win a Grand Slam in 30 years, when she collected the US Open last year, she found her range in the second set and grew with confidence as the match advanced.

Henin admitted that the injury, which affected her serve and back hand, may have diverted her concentration, although it didn’t allay the disappointment of leaving the very competition she came out of retirement to win.

“It was mentally not easy to deal with when I fell on the court and the few games after that,” said Henin after Clijsters took the second set 6-2 and the third 6-3 for the match.

Venus Williams asked Jarmila Groth to wait for nine minutes as she found her way to court two but that’s where the time delaying slowed down somewhat. Williams raced to 6-4 in the first set before labouring again to get where she wanted, this time for just over an hour, finally winning the second set on a tiebreak 7-6(7-5).

Jankovic fell at the fourth round for the fourth time when she retired with a back injury. The Serb, who arrived on court with her right thigh heavily strapped, finally handed the match to Russia’s Vera Zvonereva 6-1, 3-0, 30-15 before stopping.

Petra Kvitiva’s astonishing solo run continued with a thrashing of third seed Caroline Wozniacki that was so comprehensive it will force the tennis world to take notice. The 20-year-old ranked just 62 in the world rattled through the match 6-2, 6-4 in 46 minutes and gives the Czech a place in the quarter-finals for the first time.