Samantha Stosur

Sam and Rennae drop short in Wimbledon final

5 July 2009

Serena and Venus Williams beat Australians Samantha Stosur (pictured left) and Rennae Stubbs (right) in the Wimbledon women’s doubles final on Saturday.

The fourth-seeded Americans defeated the No.3 seeds 7-6(4) 6-4 for their fourth doubles title from the All England Club.

Just four hours before the match started, Serena beat older sister and defending champion Venus in straight sets to claim her third Wimbledon singles crown.

Stubbs and Stosur had only played a handful of matches together when they lost to the siblings in the third round of this year’s Australian Open.

And Stubbs said she and Stosur had learned from that encounter.

“They’re very intimidating and they put a lot of pressure on you,” Stubbs said.

“They put a lot of pressure on your serve because they return so well … and they serve just massive.

“Coming in here we’d had a lot more matches and more experience and we felt that we had a chance if we served well and we knew we could break them from time to time because we’d done it before.

“I think we proved today that we were one or two points away from maybe flipping that around, that score.”

Stosur said: “I actually don’t know if it’s better or worse playing them after a singles final because they’re obviously playing well and they’ve already played and felt it out there, but it’s a Wimbledon final and it’s something to be proud of.”

The Australians claimed an early break for a 2-1 lead, but the Williamses broke back to draw level at 4-4 in the first set.

Stubbs, the 38-year-old veteran playing her 19th Wimbledon, saved a break point that would have given her opponents the set with a neat half volley under pressure that Venus could not get back over the net and the Australians held serve to force the tiebreak.

But mini-breaks on the second and final points gave the American duo a one-set lead.

In the second set, the Australians fought off three break points in the third game.

But the turning point came in the seventh game when Serena converted a break point with an excellent volley that sailed past Stosur and bounced deep in the back of the court.

Stosur and Stubbs avoided being broken again on championship point but Serena sealed victory in the next game with an ace.

Serena said: “There’s nothing like winning a title with your sister. It’s really a good feeling.”

Venus agreed: “Definitely.”

The Williams sisters also won the doubles at SW19 in 2008, 2002 and 2000.

Stubbs was making her first Grand Slam finals appearance since winning the doubles at Wimbledon with Cara Black of Zimbabwe in 2004.

That victory came three years after Stubbs teamed up with American Lisa Raymond to win the 2001 title.

View Comments