It's too early to talk about an all-Williams final but Venus and Serena have been in punishing form so far, on one leg or two
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| Serena Williams wrenched her ankle but recovered to defeat Edina Gallovits-Hall. |
A few days ago Serena Williams made hacks look up when she named her sister, Venus, as the player she'd least like to face on Tour.
Sure, we said. That will go down well over dinner when the Williams girls have a little laugh about how they can string journalists wrong.
Well, for a start, she meant it. And second, those Williams girls are delivering. On day one Venus (seeded a ludicrous 25) was back to her imperious best, giving up just one game in getting rid of the Kazakh Galina Voskoboeva in an hour. That backed up Serena's contention that Venus's first tournament win in two and a half years before Christmas and some good tennis in the Hopman Cup signalled she was returning to her best.
On Monday little sister (seeded fourth despite winning six events in a row and a warm betting favourite among anyone who knows anything about tennis) kicked in with a double-bagel demolition job on Edina Gallovits-Hall of Romania in just 54 minutes – on one leg.
The American sent a shiver through the tournament when, stretching for a forehand in the fifth game of the first set, her right ankle gave up on her and she tumbled hard to the court, where she lay in pain for two minutes. It was, ominously, the same ankle she injured in the warm-up tournament in Brisbane in 2012, and the effects of that lingered into the Open, where she went out in the third round to Ekaterina Makarova.
This time she got up gingerly and proceeded to wipe the court with her opponent. End of crisis. Probably.
Later she said: "Oh I'll be out there. Unless something fatal happens to me, there's no way I'm not going to be competing. I'm alive. My heart's beating. I'll be fine. It reminded me of Brisbane though. I thought, 'Oh, not again!' But I've had such a good year that I don't think it's anything negative.
"Obviously there's pain. Obviously there's swelling. I haven't had enough time to assess it yet. Saw the doctor again. We're just gonna see how it is. I've been injured before. I've played this tournament with so many injuries and was able to come off pretty much on top. So for me it's just another page and a great story to tell the grandkids one day."
So well has Serena been playing for several weeks now, you would not be confident backing against her – even on one leg. And what price a Williams sisters final? Quite long, probably, but not as wild an idea as it might have seemed a few days ago.
And they've also teamed up in the doubles.
Date-Krumm still going
On Serena's side of the draw another of the game's great characters had a day to remember.
Kimiko Date-Krumm seems ageless – and still dangerous. It's 19 years since she became the first Japanese woman to break into the top 10 in the world. Today, aged 42, she became the oldest woman in the Open era to win a match in a slam, when she pulled of a considerable upset in beating the 12th seed Nadia Petrova, 12 years her junior, 6-2, 6-0 in a little over an hour.
It's not as if she caught Petrova cold. The Russian played really well in 2012 and, appearing in her 14th Australian Open, was expected to make some headway in the first week. But 38 unforced errors did for her.
A delightful personality, Date-Krumm refused to get carried away by her big win. "Last year I had many injury," she said. "Big one was my calf. It happen at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. And after when I go back to Japan, I changed the training."
It seems to have worked. This is the first slam in a while she has entered not carrying an injury, and she observed: "Almost every time I play the seeded player. And many times I almost beat them, and then I lost many times. But this time I don't get injury. My body is feeling lots good. My tennis was not so bad."
Next up is Shahar Peer, who beat the Russian Alexandra Panova in three sets. It is a little soon to start dreaming about a quarter-final against Williams, but in a field where there have already been a few shocks it is not entirely out of the question.
Sure, we said. That will go down well over dinner when the Williams girls have a little laugh about how they can string journalists wrong.
Well, for a start, she meant it. And second, those Williams girls are delivering. On day one Venus (seeded a ludicrous 25) was back to her imperious best, giving up just one game in getting rid of the Kazakh Galina Voskoboeva in an hour. That backed up Serena's contention that Venus's first tournament win in two and a half years before Christmas and some good tennis in the Hopman Cup signalled she was returning to her best.
On Monday little sister (seeded fourth despite winning six events in a row and a warm betting favourite among anyone who knows anything about tennis) kicked in with a double-bagel demolition job on Edina Gallovits-Hall of Romania in just 54 minutes – on one leg.
The American sent a shiver through the tournament when, stretching for a forehand in the fifth game of the first set, her right ankle gave up on her and she tumbled hard to the court, where she lay in pain for two minutes. It was, ominously, the same ankle she injured in the warm-up tournament in Brisbane in 2012, and the effects of that lingered into the Open, where she went out in the third round to Ekaterina Makarova.
This time she got up gingerly and proceeded to wipe the court with her opponent. End of crisis. Probably.
Later she said: "Oh I'll be out there. Unless something fatal happens to me, there's no way I'm not going to be competing. I'm alive. My heart's beating. I'll be fine. It reminded me of Brisbane though. I thought, 'Oh, not again!' But I've had such a good year that I don't think it's anything negative.
"Obviously there's pain. Obviously there's swelling. I haven't had enough time to assess it yet. Saw the doctor again. We're just gonna see how it is. I've been injured before. I've played this tournament with so many injuries and was able to come off pretty much on top. So for me it's just another page and a great story to tell the grandkids one day."
So well has Serena been playing for several weeks now, you would not be confident backing against her – even on one leg. And what price a Williams sisters final? Quite long, probably, but not as wild an idea as it might have seemed a few days ago.
And they've also teamed up in the doubles.
Date-Krumm still going
On Serena's side of the draw another of the game's great characters had a day to remember.
Kimiko Date-Krumm seems ageless – and still dangerous. It's 19 years since she became the first Japanese woman to break into the top 10 in the world. Today, aged 42, she became the oldest woman in the Open era to win a match in a slam, when she pulled of a considerable upset in beating the 12th seed Nadia Petrova, 12 years her junior, 6-2, 6-0 in a little over an hour.
It's not as if she caught Petrova cold. The Russian played really well in 2012 and, appearing in her 14th Australian Open, was expected to make some headway in the first week. But 38 unforced errors did for her.
A delightful personality, Date-Krumm refused to get carried away by her big win. "Last year I had many injury," she said. "Big one was my calf. It happen at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. And after when I go back to Japan, I changed the training."
It seems to have worked. This is the first slam in a while she has entered not carrying an injury, and she observed: "Almost every time I play the seeded player. And many times I almost beat them, and then I lost many times. But this time I don't get injury. My body is feeling lots good. My tennis was not so bad."
Next up is Shahar Peer, who beat the Russian Alexandra Panova in three sets. It is a little soon to start dreaming about a quarter-final against Williams, but in a field where there have already been a few shocks it is not entirely out of the question.
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