Теннис

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Davenport and Venus Meet in Wimbledon Final/b]

World No.1 Lindsay Davenport won her rain-delayed semifinal against No.3 Amelie Mauresmo to reach her second Wimbledon final. On Thursday, Davenport trailed a set and 4-2 in the second but fought back to force a third, in which she led 5-3 before rain suspended play for the day. On Friday, Davenport served out the match without losing a point and will now take on fellow American Venus Williams, who ousted defending champion Maria Sharapova on Thursday.

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©Sony Ericsson WTA Tour

London, England: Venus Williams reached her first Grand Slam final in two years by defeating defending champion Maria Sharapova in straight sets Thursday. Her opponent in the final is yet to be decided as the other semifinal between Davenport and Mauresmo did not finish due to rain. It will be resumed Friday.

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©Sony Ericsson WTA Tour

London, England: Venus Williams reached her first Grand Slam final in two years by defeating defending champion Maria Sharapova in straight sets Thursday. Her opponent in the final is yet to be decided as the other semifinal between Davenport and Mauresmo did not finish due to rain. It will be resumed Friday.

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©Sony Ericsson WTA Tour

London, England: Venus Williams reached her first Grand Slam final in two years by defeating defending champion Maria Sharapova in straight sets Thursday. Her opponent in the final is yet to be decided as the other semifinal between Davenport and Mauresmo did not finish due to rain. It will be resumed Friday.

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©Sony Ericsson WTA Tour

London, England: Venus Williams reached her first Grand Slam final in two years by defeating defending champion Maria Sharapova in straight sets Thursday. Her opponent in the final is yet to be decided as the other semifinal between Davenport and Mauresmo did not finish due to rain. It will be resumed Friday.

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©Sony Ericsson WTA Tour

London, England: Venus Williams reached her first Grand Slam final in two years by defeating defending champion Maria Sharapova in straight sets Thursday. Her opponent in the final is yet to be decided as the other semifinal between Davenport and Mauresmo did not finish due to rain. It will be resumed Friday.

[Samwelino]

Молодец Венус По-тихоньку уже набрала форму после долгого перерыва и я думаю со своей сестрой ещё составит конкуренцию в женском теннисе. Думаю Венус Williams победит на Wimbledon`e

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Я тоже так думаю, она победила Шарапову

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Venus Soars to Third Title

Saturday, July 2, 2005

Venus Williams captured her third Wimbledon title in the space of six years in a final of high drama and record length when she outlasted Lindsay Davenport 4-6, 7-6, 9-7.

At 2 hours 45 minutes the match exceeded the previous mark for a women's final. In 1970, Margaret Court and Billie Jean King battled for 2 hours 28 minutes before Court won, 14-12, 11-9.

This was the 27th match between these two, and it turned out to be easily the most dramatic, with Davenport missing a match point at 5-4 in the third set, then needing to go off court for treatment to a back injury. Twice more she came within two points of what would have been her second Wimbledon win, before her spirit and her legs gave out against an opponent who simply refused to recognise the possibility of defeat.

As Davenport's weakly-struck forehand plopped into the net, Williams shrieked and leapt high into the air, a process she repeated after receiving the Venus Rosewater Dish from the Duke of Kent.

As 14th seed, Williams is the lowest-seeded player in the Open era to win Wimbledon, a victory which sits well with her triumphs of 2000 and 2001. In the following two years she was runner-up to her younger sister Serena but a persistent stomach strain and consequent lack of form had pulled her down the rankings.

Under grey skies the match got underway an hour later than scheduled, because of the delayed men's semi-final between Andy Roddick and Thomas Johansson. The delay seemed to cast a cloud over the play, too. Perhaps it was because they have played each other so many times before, but their was little spark in the opening set. Davenport twice broke a listless Williams to lead 5-2 before Venus pulled herself together, won nine points in a row and threatened to make a fight of the set after all.

Davenport fought off the counter-attack to close out the first set in 33 minutes, but this was merely an overture to an afternoon of the highest drama. Williams held, and missed, a break point at 5-4 in the second set. Davenport promptly served for that set at 6-5, only to be broken comprehensively without collecting a single point. A resurgent Williams then ran up a 5-1 lead in the tiebreak before winning it 7-4 to set the scene for the final, gripping set.

The balance tipped Davenport's way when she broke for a 4-2 lead, as the crowd buzzed in expectation of Lindsay going on to win. However, she was clearly in some physical distress and after being broken for 3-4, Davenport left the court for treatment to a back injury.

Though visibly in pain, Davenport held serve on her return and in the next game stood at match point after Williams perpetrated her ninth double-fault, a weak error which also betrayed her nerves. But a thumping backhand got her out of trouble, at least temporarily. Twice more Davenport held serve to stay in front, twice Williams skated perilously close to disaster, two points from defeat in two successive service games.

But the outcome was predictable as Davenport, exhausted and ailing, finally dropped her serve to fall 7-8 behind. This time there was no mistake from Williams, and she was even able to afford the luxury of a 10th double-fault on her way to a stunning victory.

Written by Ronald Atkin

[Vardan]

Ура лна выйграла!!!

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А вот и фотографии

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Venus and Lindsay Star in Epic

Saturday, 2 July, 2005

It was the final that no one expected and yet it was Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams who walked out on Centre Court for Saturday's final after the conclusion of Andy Roddick's semi-final with Thomas Johansson.

They made an excellent pairing: Davenport, the ignored world No.1 rated only a 12-1 shot at the start of Wimbledon, and Williams, the two-times Wimbledon Champion deemed so far past her best by some detractors that it was difficult to find any odds on her at all. In return for being ignored, they gave us an epic.

You would think that when the best player on the planet found herself lining up against the No.14 seed, she would at last be granted the status of favourite for the 2005 title. But no. True to form, the pundits overlooked Davenport and plumped for Williams in the wake of her sensational semi-final victory over Sharapova. No matter that if she won, Williams would be the lowest seed in the Open era to wear the crown. Once again, Davenport was mysteriously the underdog - a status she shrugged off briskly with an early break.

Everyone acknowledged before this match began that Williams had played by far her best tennis in at least two years to flatten Sharapova in Thursday's semi-final. The question today was how much that would cost Williams mentally in her quest for the ultimate prize. Would she be able to lift herself again to win the fifth Slam title of her career and her first in almost four years?

Statistically, it was tough to separate them on face-to-face form. Davenport, herself five-and-a-half years down the line from the last of her career Slam titles, at the 2000 Australian Open, led Venus 14-12 in their match-ups to date before today's encounter. She had also won all four of their most recent jousts, although Venus had triumphed in their three Wimbledon meetings over the years. Of the 11 finals they had played previously, Venus led 6-5.

But in the first set today Venus was a shadow of the ferocious competitor who mauled Sharapova. Then Williams' hunger was such that she could be seen frequently almost baring her teeth as she prepared to serve, in marked contrast to the composed expression of noble calm she usually wears.

In today's first set she seemed almost absent from the court. Davenport broke her again, and it was only when the No. 1 seed was serving for the set at 5-2 that, out of the blue, Williams captured eight points in a row to get back to 5-4. Thursday's tiger was trying to find her way back on to the court, but it was too late to save the first set - the first that Williams had surrendered throughout the whole Wimbledon fortnight.

Just by making the final, Williams had already propelled herself back into the top 10 in the latest rankings to be announced on Monday. She had also maintained the unique family tradition of a Williams sister in every Wimbledon final since the millennium. But it was on the way to one of those finals, two years ago, that she picked up the adductor (stomach) muscle injury that has troubled her ever since.

Williams has explained over the last fortnight that she can only play so many successive matches now before the injury hinders her. Given that this was the first time in a long while she had been required to play seven consecutive championship matches, was this hampering her? Had she strained it with her exertions against Sharapova?

Then, at 5-5, without warning, Venus delivered a horrible game to leave Davenport serving for the Championship. And suddenly there it was: Venus bared her teeth again. She was preparing to receive serve from Davenport when she did it, and it meant business. She snatched the break back to love to take it into the tie-break, and from there stormed into the third set. Game on.

Midway through the third, Davenport tweaked a lower back muscle - a recurrence of a problem that first developed during her semi-final against Mauresmo. After off-court treatment, she could no longer reach down for low shots but she could glimpse the finish line, and she would not be cowed. She held for 5-4 and saw Venus double fault to hand her Championship point. Williams would not let her take it.

Neither would give in. It became the longest women's final, eclipsing Margaret Court's 1970 victory over Billie-Jean King - and still Davenport and Williams were producing 25-stroke rallies. Davenport saved two break points for 7-8 but could not rescue a third. At 40-0 Venus held her arms aloft, as if being so near to the victory was victory in itself. When the real moment came, she seemed not to believe it.

Davenport, one of the game's most graceful servants, embraced her at the net. Twelve months after her sister Serena fought off tears in defeat, Venus wept them in triumph. The prize was hers, and she could not have been happier.

Written by Kate Battersby

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