July 6- Serena beats Venus to win her First Wimbledon Title
2002- On this day in Sports History, Serena Williams won her first Wimbledon Title after beating her sister, Venus Williams in the final match. Serena won the match 7-6, 6-3 to beat her older sister. Heading into the match, Venus held the #1 ranking in the world with Serena right behind her in second. Venus also had won the previous two Wimbledon Championships and was looking for her third. Instead, Serena won the match, which was her first Wimbledon Championship, and leaped over Venus to be ranked #1 in the World for the first time in her career. The match was the first time siblings faced each other in the Wimbledon single’s final since 1884 between Maud and Lillian Watson.
Going into the tournament as the two seed, Serena proved her dominance over the rest of the field. She went through the tournament without losing a single set in any match. Her closest match before the final was the third round where she beat Els Callens (Belgium) 7-6, 7-6. Serena beat Amélie Mauresmo (France) in the Semifinal 6-2, 6-1 to make the Final and face her sister.
In addition to the sisters playing in the Singles competition, Venus and Serena teamed up with each other in the doubles competition. Going into the tournament as the third seed, the two made the final match which was played two hours after their singles match. In the Doubles final, they beat Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez to become the 2002 Women’s Doubles Wimbledon Champions.
The singles final match on this day in 2002 was the third time that the two sisters faced each other in a Grand Slam final. The second time was one month earlier at the 2002 French Open. Serena beat Venus in that one too as she won her first French Open title. After the Wimbledon match, Venus was still leading 5-4 in the sisters head-to-head matchups. Venus also held 4 Grand Slam Titles while Serena only had 3. Today, Serena holds the lead 18-12 in head-to-head matches. She also leads in Grand Slam titles with 23 compared to Venus’s 7.
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Sources:
Associated Press. “Serena Wins Family Slugfest.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 17 July 2002
Nelson, Dearl. “Defining a Champion: The Top 10 Most Important Wins of Serena Williams' Career.” Bleacher Report, Bleacher Report, 3 Oct. 2017