An irresistible double act

Published on Saturday 4 July 2009 23:36

SERENA Williams was last night celebrating her second Wimbledon title of the day after she and sister Venus won the women's doubles. The pair teamed up after earlier contesting the singles final, where Venus relinquished her champion status to her younger sister.

They beat Australians Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 on Centre Court, to achieve their fourth Wimbledon doubles title together.

Serena was far more erratic than she had been earlier in the day, and the Australians were able to take an early break. However the Williamses were soon back on serve and had a set point at 6-5, with their opponents serving, but could not take the chance.

They dominated the tie-break, however, to move in front.

The crucial break in the second set came in game seven as Stubbs, the 38-year-old doubles expert, saw her serve broken. The siblings moved to match point as Serena began to find the form which brought her the singles success, but Venus netted with a backhand from the back of the court, and the Australians clung on to force the American pair to serve for the match.

Responsibility fell to Serena who rammed down a serve at 122mph to set up a second match point. She then netted when going for a winner down the centre though.

A fierce cross-court forehand from Serena created another match point and an ace secured the championship.

In the men's doubles Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic ensured Wimbledon was not all about the United States on Saturday with a tense doubles victory over Americans Bob and Mike Bryan. Canada's Nestor and Serbian Zimonjic beat the top seeded Bryan brothers 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 to retain their title.