As this year’s U.S. Open approaches its highly-anticipated conclusion, everything points to a historic ending that seems destined for the record books.
And, not too surprisingly, Serena and Venus Williams find themselves immersed right in the middle of it all. When the two sisters meet Tuesday night in quarterfinal round action, younger sister Serena will be looking to take another step in her potentially history-making run towards the sport’s first calendar-year Grand Slam in more than four decades.
At 35 years-old, Venus, meanwhile, laces up with the chance to gain yet another step in her own chase towards becoming the oldest women’s major champion in the era of Open play. No matter the result, it will be quite the show for everyone in attendance. Out-of-town fans looking to take it in live can do so with affordable NYC flights from Hipmunk.com, which features airfare from most major airline carriers. Furthermore, Hipmunk also has cheap hotels in New York, with rooms starting at $119.
“She’s playing great,” Serena said of her lifelong idol and sister in her on-court interview. “I barely had time to get ready for my match because she won so fast. I have to be ready for that. At least a Williams will be in the semi’s, so that’s good.”
And with that, the Williams family becomes the one to beat. Serena enters the showdown having won 32 straight Grand Slam single matches — 25 of them this season alone — and as has been the case all year, she seems completely unphased.
“I don’t feel any pressure,” the younger Williams said. “I wanted that Serena Slam. Winning four in a row at Wimbledon was amazing. Now I have a chance to go for it here, five in a row.”
But she’ll have to go through her big sister, who is arguably playing as well as she has in recent memory, to get it.
In 26 career meetings between the two, Serena holds the overall lead, winning 15 of those match-ups, including a straight set win at Wimbledon in their last encounter. But nothing seems predictable when these two square off, and that observations rings even more true with so much now on the line.
On the men’s side, the top two seeds, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, are still alive heading into the quarters, with Djokovic now having advanced to that stage or beyond in 26 grand slam events. For Federer, a five-time U.S. Open winner, his Wednesday night match against Richard Gasquet will mark his 11th quarterfinals appearance in 12 attempts.
