Jason HeimTennis: Venus And Serena Williams Win Women's Doubles Title
January 31st 2009 13:47
Category: Tennis
For Team Williams, eight is not enough. Venus believes the on-court teamwork with sister Serena has evolved and there will be plenty more titles to add to the eighth grand slam women's doubles championship they sealed at the Australian Open.
Three of those titles have come at Melbourne Park; the latest as the pair made short work of Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama of Japan in straight sets to add to their 2001 and 2003 Australian doubles crowns.
Combining ahead of Serena's singles final on Saturday night, the American siblings were dominant winning 6-3 6-3 in one hour and 16 minutes.
But scarily for those women hoping to find a safe harbour in doubles away from the powerhouse sister act, Venus said their game was getting better and they planned to play more doubles at this year's remaining grand slams.
“When we first started playing we thought we knew each other so well we didn't need to talk between points,'' Venus said.
“Someone told us we needed to talk more, tell each other where we were going to serve, how we were going to play.
“We're definitely better at that now.
“We complement each other because we're both extremely positive. We know when the other one moves, what the other one needs to do.
“If we keep playing (doubles together), we can keep getting titles.''
Both were in crushing touch at the net, helping them cruise to the first set in 38 minutes inside an air-conditioned Rod Laver Arena keeping out temperatures that touched 45 degrees.
But they had to work a little harder in the second - a set featuring six breaks of serve in nine games.
Enter Serena, whose volleying ramped up as they broke Sugiyama's serve to grab a 4-3 lead, then sealed the championship by breaking Hantuchova.
Serena takes on Russian Dinara Safina in the women's singles final on Saturday night and believes Friday's hit-out will help her for that match.
“I love to play doubles. It's great practice, it's great fun, I've got a great partner. It definitely helps my singles,'' she said.
AAP
Three of those titles have come at Melbourne Park; the latest as the pair made short work of Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama of Japan in straight sets to add to their 2001 and 2003 Australian doubles crowns.
Combining ahead of Serena's singles final on Saturday night, the American siblings were dominant winning 6-3 6-3 in one hour and 16 minutes.
But scarily for those women hoping to find a safe harbour in doubles away from the powerhouse sister act, Venus said their game was getting better and they planned to play more doubles at this year's remaining grand slams.
“When we first started playing we thought we knew each other so well we didn't need to talk between points,'' Venus said.
“Someone told us we needed to talk more, tell each other where we were going to serve, how we were going to play.
“We're definitely better at that now.
“We complement each other because we're both extremely positive. We know when the other one moves, what the other one needs to do.
“If we keep playing (doubles together), we can keep getting titles.''
Both were in crushing touch at the net, helping them cruise to the first set in 38 minutes inside an air-conditioned Rod Laver Arena keeping out temperatures that touched 45 degrees.
But they had to work a little harder in the second - a set featuring six breaks of serve in nine games.
Enter Serena, whose volleying ramped up as they broke Sugiyama's serve to grab a 4-3 lead, then sealed the championship by breaking Hantuchova.
Serena takes on Russian Dinara Safina in the women's singles final on Saturday night and believes Friday's hit-out will help her for that match.
“I love to play doubles. It's great practice, it's great fun, I've got a great partner. It definitely helps my singles,'' she said.
AAP
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