Serena and Venus triumph

Somebody had to lose the ladies’ singles final, but there was to be consolation for Serena Williams in the doubles, as she and elder sister Venus captured a third Wimbledon crown – their seventh Grand Slam title – by defeating Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur, 6-2, 6-2.

Raymond and Stosur are both former doubles number ones: As a pair, they won the US Open in 2005 and Roland Garros in 2006, and in the first half of 2007 they collected five titles on the tour. But when Stosur fell ill and missed most of the second half of the season, their prospects suffered.

Still, the pair have enjoyed a vintage week, first defeating third seeds Kveta Peschke and Rennae Stubbs in the last 16, then breezing past unseeded Ekaterina Makarova and Selima Sfar in the quarters. In their semi final they made top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber look ordinary.

But today, with their powerful and well-grooved returns, the 11th-seeded Williams pairing made life hard for the resolute serve-and-volleyers from the get-go. Indeed, while Raymond and Stosur, the No.16 seeds, play a classical doubles game – at the net – they were often forced to play from the baseline far more than they must have have liked.

The first to fall prey to the Williams onslaught was 34-year-old American Raymond – winner of the title in 2001 with Rennae Stubbs – who relinquished her serve in the second game of the match. Four games later she was in similar trouble, and although one break point was saved with a cat-and-mouse exchange that drew a volleying error from Serena, a second was converted when valiant net defence by Stosur was eventually quashed by a cracking Venus forehand down the line.

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