2017 Australian Open Women’s Final Open Thread: Serena v Venus

by Staff | January 27th, 2017, 5:56 pm
  • 24 Comments

Serena and Venus Williams, two of the most famous sporting siblings clash once again, this time in Melbourne and for the 2017 Australian Open women’s singles title.

With a title, Serena will win an Open Era record 23rd career Grand Slam, moving her ahead of Steffi Graf’s 22. And she’ll also win a record 7th Australian Open title and return to the No. 1 ranking.

The 36-year-old Venus is already the oldest woman to reach the finals at the Australian Open in the Open Era. She has reached her first Grand Slam final since 2009 Wimbledon and first at the Australian Open in 14 years back in 2003 when she lost to Serena.


WTA NOTES
* Both finalists are previous Grand Slam singles champions: S.Williams owns 22 titles – including six Australian Opens (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009-10, 2015) – while V.Williams owns seven
* S.Williams has advanced to 29 Grand Slam singles finals. In the Open Era, Chris Evert reached the most Grand
Slam finals, with 34 (18-16 win-loss record), followed by Martina Navratilova (32; 18-14) and Steffi Graf (31; 22-9). Margaret Court reached 29 Grand Slam singles finals, going 24-5 overall and 11-1 in the Open Era
* V.Williams has advanced to 15 Grand Slam singles finals. Prior to this one, her most recent final was 2009
Wimbledon (R-Up, l. S.Williams), 7 1/2 years ago
* S.Williams has advanced to this stage without the loss of a set; V.Williams lost just one set – during her SF
victory over Vandeweghe. The last player to win the Australian Open title without the loss of a set was Maria
Sharapova in 2008
* World No.2 S.Williams has had the tougher road to the final. Her opponents’ average ranking is 53, including No.9 Konta in the QFs; while V.Williams opponents’ average ranking is 91
* The last all-American final at the Australian Open was in 2005 – S.Williams d. Davenport
* The last all-American final at a Grand Slam was at 2009 Wimbledon (S.Williams d. V.Williams)
* The last all-country Grand Slam final was at 2015 US Open (Italy’s Pennetta d. Vinci)
* The 2017 Australian Open is the third Grand Slam final in Open Era to feature both players at 30-plus years old: 2017 Australian Open Venus Williams (36 yrs, 226 days) vs. Serena Williams (35 years, 125 days); 2015 US Open Flavia Pennetta (33 yrs, 200 days) def. Roberta Vinci (32 yrs, 207 days); 1977 Wimbledon Virginia Wade (31 yrs, 257 days) def. Betty Stove (32 yrs, 8 days)
* This year’s Australian Open championship match is the oldest Grand Slam final in the Open Era, in terms of
combined age. Of the seven oldest Grand Slam finals, Serena has competed in five
* Venus Williams, at 36 years and 226 days, is the oldest Australian Open finalist in the Open Era, followed by
sister Serena, at 35 years and 125 days
* Serena Williams is the oldest woman in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam singles title – most recently at 2016
Wimbledon: 2016 Wimbledon Serena Williams (USA) 34y 287d, 2015 Wimbledon Serena Williams (USA) 33y 285d; 1990 Wimbledon Martina Navratilova (USA) 33y 263d

HEAD-TO-HEAD
Serena and Venus Williams are set to play for the 28th time in their careers. This will be their 15th Grand Slam meeting, a series that dates back to 1998 Australian Open when Venus (17 years old) defeated Serena (16 years old) in the second round.
Serena leads 16-11 (Serena has won seven of the last eight meetings)
Hard: Serena leads 10-8
Grass: Serena leads 4-2
Clay: Serena leads 2-1
Grand Slams Matches: Serena leads 9-5
Title Matches: Serena leads 8-3
Grand Slam Title matches: Serena leads 6-2

SATURDAY AUSTRALIAN OPEN SCHEDULE
Not Before: 7:30 PM
Women’s Singles – Final
Venus Williams (USA) [13] vs. Serena Williams (USA) [2]
Men’s Doubles – Final
Henri Kontinen (FIN) [4]/John Peers (AUS) [4] vs. Bob Bryan (USA) [3]/Mike Bryan (USA) [3]

WUNDERGROUND.COM SATURDAY FORECAST
Abundant sunshine. High 83F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.

LADBROKES ODDS
Venus Williams 4.50 vs. Serena Williams 1.20

US TV SCHEDULE
ESPN will have live coverage of the women’s starting at 3:00am ET. The match begins at 3:30am ET.

POLL


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24 Comments for 2017 Australian Open Women’s Final Open Thread: Serena v Venus

Chrisford1 Says:

It’s been almost 20 years. A changing of the guard in the woman’s ranks is long overdue. As long as the Sistas are there, it holds interest down.
Even with marketing princess Maria gobbling up WTA endorsement money even when she isn’t winning much, no matter how hard she shrieks. She is polarizing as well.

When those 3 leave, I believe the ratings and level of competition in the sorryass WTA will go up. Across tennis blogs, there are always lots of features and stories on the woman players, with a dozen at best comments while 100 comments come in if Djokovic does something strange or Roger has a glory run going…


truthsquad Says:

Sistas? wow….you have some issues my friend 


skeezer Says:

“As long as the Sistas are there, it holds interest down.”
WTF? Moderation!


Noonen Says:

Venus will win, as the two women have already determined.


Willow Says:

N.I.D Not a very exciting final i have to say, a few points here and there have been exciting, but thats about it, Serena coasting to 23 and surpassing Steffi, and been the female GOAT, but where is the competition ? ….


FedExpress Says:

Venus bending over for her sister was so NID.

sad that kvitova and azarenka are out of the game.


Willow Says:

Fedexpress Agree on the second line of your post, not so much the first though ….


Willow Says:

Pretty boring final sorry ….


FedExpress Says:

no excitement, no action today, anticlimatic.
hoping the boys put up a better show.


gonzalowski Says:

Congrats to Serena (and Venus), imo they had deserved to enjoy placidly the final and not to “kill” each other. This final it’s been a big story by itself, hsn’t it?


Margot Says:

Poor Noonen, wrong again.
Agree, not a gripping final, but no shame losing to the GOAT.


Willow Says:

Gonzalowski yeah i hear what your saying, nothing invested emotionally either way, just wanted to see a contest, sometimes the journey can be alot more interesting than the destination itself, like Fedexpress says bit of an anti climax ….


Danica Says:

This final was over in a blink of an eye. Serena too strong, Venus with a brilliant flash here and there, too weak.

Hana Mandlikova was awful. Didn’t know what the heck she was doing at the podium. Didn’t smile once and barely congratulated the players. Almost rude.


Willow Says:

Danica yeah i noticed that too ….


BBB Says:

People do go to some lengths to feel negative about a very positive event.

And it’s not the first time CF has made extremely questionable remarks about Venus and Serena. He cannot get past their race, despite the fact that the rest of the civilized world has. Moderation indeed. Skeezer, I grow alarmed at the frequency with which I agree with you lately.

How excited was the little girl who got to present the checks to Venus and Serena? You could see the inspiration on her face.

I’m no hurry for these two to go away.


Willow Says:

BBB Fair enough, i just wanted to see a decent final is all, and yes loved that little girls face hugging both the Williams sisters, shame Margaret Court couldnt summon up a smile, and i agree with the second paragraph of your post, but will say no more on that, as the last time i did i faced a real acid bath, and barely got out alive ….


madmax Says:

CF is a born pessimist and loves the attention.

Imagine living with that gloomy outlook on life, which includes any sporting event. A true fan? Not in my world. A hatriot.


BBB Says:

Willow, I thought it was actually pretty good under the circumstances. Venus’ first serve wasn’t there, but that was (to me) the only thing missing. Which I find extraordinary, given age and health considerations – not to mention the emotions of playing your sibling/BFF when a record is on the line.

Serena could be pretty dangerous going forward. This was a big milestone.

LOL re acid bath!


FedExpress Says:

the wait is killing me


Margot Says:

BBB: never mind, Neanderthal man, aka CF1, will soon be leaving tennisx to go and help build the wall….;)


Willow Says:

Margot watch out for the acid bath m,dear ….


Margot Says:

Willow: Am I bovvered tho?
Um…no


Willow Says:

https://youtu.be/k9urPHwg3k0 sorry do it for you on this thread Margot lol ;-) ….


BBB Says:

Margot, you crack me up. I hope he doesn’t expect to get paid – POTUS has a habit of not paying his workers.

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