A first Wimbledon title for Serena Williams.
SERENA WINS SISTER ACT
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Serena Williams claimed her first Wimbledon title by defeating elder
sister and defending champion Venus in the final on Centre Court.
Serena had already taken Venus' crown as world number one by reaching the final, and deservedly took her Wimbledon title as well with a 7-6 6-3 victory in the first final between sisters at the All England Club since the inaugural final in 1884.
The 20-year-old took the opening set after coming out on top after three straight service breaks in the middle of the opening set, the final one gifted to her courtesy of a double fault and backhand error from Venus.
But Venus was not giving up with a third straight Wimbledon title within her sights, and broke back as Serena served for the set, Serena bouncing her racket off the turf in frustration after netting a simple backhand.
She made amends in the tie-break however, taking it 7-4 on her second set point with an ace. Umpire Jane Harvey initially called a let in the belief the ball had clipped the net, but neither player seemed to hear as the crowd
applauded, and Harvey simply shrugged her shoulders as the duo took their seats.
Venus was constantly facing a battle to hold serve and saved two break points in her opening service game of the second set after two double faults.
She went 0-30 down on three straight service games and eventually the pressure told, Serena breaking for a 4-2 lead.
Just as in the first set however, Venus broke straight back only to then be broken again due to another costly double fault to give Serena a chance to serve for the match.
The new world number one did so to love and added the Wimbledon title to her French Open crown.
David Nalbandian, the 20-year-old Argentinian, became the first player
in the Open era to reach the men's singles final on his SW19 debut as he
booked his place on Centre Court against world number one Lleyton Hewitt.
Nalbandian needed just 32 minutes to win the final set and complete his 7-6
6-4 1-6 2-6 6-2 semi-final victory over Belgium's Xavier Malisse.
It made him only the second South American to reach the men's final after
Peru's Alex Olmedo, who beat Rod Laver to become champion in 1959.
The victory was a remarkable turnaround of fortunes for Nalbandian who, after
winning the opening two sets in which Malisse took a controversial
eight-and-a-half minute time-out with chest pains yesterday afternoon, had seen
his opponent hit back to completely outplay him in the next two sets.
There was all to play for when they resumed this afternoon and Nalbandian took
full advantage of the hesitant, inaccurate hitting of the 21-year-old Belgian
who totally failed to reproduce the form he had shown last night.
Nalbandian held serve in the opening game but Malisse, starting with two aces,
broke back to level at 1-1 thanks to his third ace of the game.
Watched by Prince Philippe of Belgium, Malisse captured the first break to go
2-1 ahead, but a double fault and the loss of three points due to some wayward
hitting, enabled Nalbandian to break back to love.
The Argentinian held the next game to love as Malisse could hardly get a ball
in court and went 4-2 up when he converted the third break point of a game in
which Malisse cancelled out an ace with a double fault.
It was the Belgian who had two break points in the seventh game but Nalbandian
saved both, moving to advantage with a well-placed forehand down the line before
he went 5-2 up when Malisse again hit long.
Nalbandian dropped the first point of the final game but that was Malisse's
last success as the Argentinian won four points in a row, finishing the three
hour, 17 minutes match with a superb drop shot before dropping to his knees with
fists clenched to salute his emotional victory.