No Venus, Serena Williams Wimbledon final battle

Maybe, it would have been easier for Serena to catch Steffi Graf’s record of 22 grand Slam titles, were she to face her older sister, Venus, in the Wimbledon final Saturday.

But the Williams’ clan was denied another match on centre court as Angelique Kerber, who beat Serena in the Australian Open final in January, put paid to that script with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Venus.

So the Saturday final is between Kerber and Serena, with Kerber chasing a second Grand slam title while Serena is chasing her 22nd title, which will take her alongside Graf.

She has choked on the last two occasions, in Australia, against Kerber and then at the French Open in May, where she lost to Garbine Muguruza.

But Serena’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, believes they have found the answer to losing in Grand Slam finals and the quest to equal Graf’s record.

Mouratoglou told Newsweek, “There is big pressure, and if we say there’s no pressure, it’s a lie. To be able to fight against it, you need to have confidence”.

Mouratoglou believes coach and player have come to the point where Serena totally believes she has all the capabilities to equal and even pass Graf’s record.

“I feel that we’ve found this. She’s realized that there is nothing stopping her from winning the next Grand Slam.”

And big sister, Venus, is not totally out of Wimbledon as she teamed up with Serena to book a semi-final place in the doubles event when they beat Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova 7-6, 4-6, 6-2.

The sisters are chasing their 14th Grand Slam doubles title – their last triumph came in 2012, and it was also at Wimbledon.