It's all Williams again

Why not both? Each match, in its own way, left me a bit breathless.

First, Serena, escaping a match point at 30-40 and 4-5 in the third set with a lunging backhand volley that slapped the net cord, teetered a moment and fell over, unplayable, on the Russian's side. Serena went on to win 6-7 (4), 7-5, 8-6.

Then, following her onto Centre Court in what has been thus far one of the least rainy of Wimbledons, Venus could scarcely have been more impeccable. The numbers she put up in this 51-minute rout defied Safina's No. 1 status and will undoubtedly leave even more fans wondering about the accuracy of the women's ranking system.

Safina lost the first eight points of the opening set. She lost the first seven of the second set. She scored only 20 points in 13 games. Williams had only one unforced error, in the second set, to 16 winners. It was an outrageous display of near-perfection that sent the Russian down to her worst defeat since a 6-0, 6-1 loss to Dementieva in a semifinal in Moscow in October of 2007.

But that was long before she ascended to No. 1 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings and, if this doesn't make you roll your eyes, and you should, she will retain her No. 1 ranking after Wimbledon -- and she still has not won a major.

Meanwhile, the Williams sisters, who have a combined 17 Grand Slam titles going into this final, plus now a combined 28 appearances in Grand Slam finals, will stay at No. 2 and No. 3. But what does it matter, anyway. We all know that the sisters, interchangeable most of the time, are the best women tennis players in the known universe, regardless of what the rankings say.

As suspenseful as the Serena-Dementieva match was, for some reason I found myself more riveted by Venus' performance. I can't ever remember seeing a a player so thoroughly dominate a top-three opponent. The 2003 French Open final was a bit similar, with then No. 4 Justine Henin beating No. 2 Kim Clijsters 6-0, 6-4. But this destruction by Venus was so much more comprehensive.

Clijsters fought back in the second set of that match. Safina simply went into a match-long crumbling, and it just got worst as it played out toward the finish.

Down 3-0 in the second set, she finally got a short ball from Venus, moved it with a cocked forehand and cracked the ball against the net. It redirected itself wide. In the next game, she got an even shorter ball. Your grandmother could have put that one away. She drove a forehand six inches long. By this time the gesticulating that defined her frustration had stopped. She just wanted this over.

At 15-all in the final game, Safina shot a forehand deep to the backhand side for what might have been a winner. At least I thought it was on the chalk. It was called out and Safina never challenged. That's how badly she wanted a shower.

Two days ago I described how Venus had come to Wimbledon determined to shut down the glut of double faults she has hit here in the past. She had 30 doubles in winning Wimbledon a year ago. She has only 10 for this tournament, including zero against Safina.

She's reduced the doubles by lightening up on her second serve and, after averaging well into the 90 mph range on second serve a year ago, she hasn't been past 88 mph average in any of her six matches this year. She averaged 86 mph vs. Safina and, while Safina has the power to attack those slowed seconds, Venus has the court quickness to negate that power, and she did.

Venus has now lost just 20 games in the tournament and only 10 games in her last eight sets. Come on. Just think about that for a moment. The record for fewest games yielded by a Wimbledon winner since the women went to the 128-draw in 1983 is 25 by Martina Navratilova, in 1983. It's hard to see Venus tying or breaking that mark. If she holds her sister to just four games in Saturday's final, I'll eat my vibration dampener, because you know that no matter how dominant one of the sisters has been, when they face off it's as if another tournament has begun.

Still, you'd have to be a crazed Serena partisan to pick her to win this final. Venus has just been spectacular.

*

WILLIAMS SISTERS HEAD TO HEAD

* 10-10 lifetime. First match, 2nd round at the Australian Open in 1998 when Venus was ranked No. 16 and Serena No. 53. Most recent match was in the semis at Key Biscayne this year with Serena winning in three sets. Nine of their 20 matches have gone split sets. Serena once had a six-match winning streak through 2002-03. Venus has never won more than two in a row. This is the ninth time they will face each other in a final with Serena leading 6-3 in championship matches. It's the first sisters final since Venus won the 2008 Wimbledon in straight sets. It's the fifth time they've played each other at Wimbledon, having split the previous four matches.


RANKINGS

* They're ranked No. 2 (Serena) and No. 3, but it's not the highest they've been ranked playing each other. At the 2002 Wimbledon final, won by Serena, Venus was ranked No. 1 and her sister No. 2. At the 2003 Aussie Open final, won by Serena, Serena was No. 1 and Venus No. 2. Incredibly, after playing great tennis for six matches, neither sister will ascend to No. 1 after the final. Safina, who was destroyed in the Wimbledon semis, will remain No. 1 -- one of a handful of women who have held the top ranking without ever winning a major.

Charles Bricker can be reached at bricker@tennisnews.com

Charles Bricker