Serena Williams sends sister Venus out in straight set at the Wimbledon 2015 quarter-finals

Serena Williams won the battle of the sisters on Centre Court, beating her elder sibling Venus 6-4, 6-3.

Serena now remains on target to do the calendar Grand Slam and emulate Don Budge, Maureen Connolly, Rod Laver (twice), Margaret Court and Steffi Graf in completing that historic feat.

It was a brave, unyielding performance from Venus, and she was brilliant in fits and starts. Some of her forehand winners took the breath away. 

But Serena hit the ball too hard. Her consistency was immense. She sent a message to the rest of the field.

In saluting Serena Williams, we should pay tribute to Heather Watson’s titanic performance against the American on Friday night. The ease of Serena’s victory shone a favourable light on Watson’s epic, gutsy performance.

This was a different sort of contest from that one, neither sister being keen to meet the other on such an important stage. The crowd sensed this too. One call from the stands said: ‘Come on Williams’. 

With the match over, the pair hugged. The celebrations were muted to say the least. Both clenched their fist after winning the odd point, but it was concealed. This was not a moment for gloating.

Serena said afterwards: ‘It’s hard to feel excited when you are playing your best friend in the world.

‘I think I served well. I only hit one big one but I was really consistent. Venus played well.’

It doesn’t get any easier to play my sister. But I am 33 and she has turned 35 and you don’t know how many more times we will play out there, I wanted to play for many years but I took the moment in.’

It was the 15th time Serena has beaten Venus in their 26 meetings. 

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