A Tale of Two Sisters: Serena Williams Battles in Melbourne, Venus Crashes Out

It was the best of the Williamses, it was the worst of the Williamses; it was the age of winners, it was the age of errors; it was the Grand Slam of hope, it was the Grand Slam of despair.

They had everything before them—one now has nothing before her.

Serena is going directly to the semis. Venus is going directly the other way.

Yesterday I said that, considering the eight quarterfinalists, any final that did not include one of the Williams sisters wouldn't be worth watching.

Last night, I was all prepared to give up on the women at the Australian Open and come back in about 10 days' time for the start of Paris.

Yesterday's quarterfinals saw a contrast of sisters, a contrast of self-belief, a contrast in outcomes. One snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, while the other showed determination and natural ability befitting a champion.

Venus couldn't serve out the match at a set and 5-4 up, and around 1 am, Serena was facing break points to go a set and 5-0 down . Serena. World No. 1.

Venus, of course, went crashing out in three sets to Li Na in an erratic encounter that saw 110 combined unforced errors. Serena, however, staged one of the best comebacks of the fortnight, winning five games in a row on the brink of defeat, taking the second-set tiebreak, and running away with the match past a dazed Victoria Azarenka.

Li is playing inspired, if not hit-or-miss, tennis right now, but I still thought Venus would be able to blast her off the court. Li just didn't have the consistency or the serve, I told myself.

I had predicted Venus to win in straight sets, so after rattling through the opener 6-2 in half an hour, I was all set to move Venus up my power rankings list and into the top five.

She was serving well, while battering Li's second serve. She didn't even need to venture into the net, such was her dominance from behind the baseline.

Then the floodgates opened, and errors from both players scattered the courts. Up a break of serve and just four points away from a place in the semifinals, Venus was unable to get it done.

After dropping the breaker 7-4, the deciding set became a battle of who wanted to hold serve. Nine of the 12 games went against serve, and Venus was only able to win two of the six games when she had the ball in her hand.

Five double faults and a 40 percent first serve percentage rarely get it done, especially in a quarterfinal. Even though Li was nervous and tense at the prospect of her maiden semi, she was able to win the war of attrition inasmuch as she made fewer errors at the most pivotal points.

Yes, Venus played torrid tennis after the opening set, but Li wasn't the picture of consistency either in her 2-6, 7-6(4), 7-5 win. She thoroughly deserves her place in the final four, but she will now need to go through Venus' little sister if she wants a shot at the trophy.

Taking nothing away from the ridiculously annoying screech attack of Victoria Azarenka, I didn't expect Serena to have as many problems as she did. But Azarenka is a top 10 player without a doubt, and she pushed Serena as close to elimination as she has been all week.

Serena's forehand was noticeably off in the first set, and her 21 winners were largely negated by 23 unforced errors. Azarenka was hitting solid groundstrokes from both wings, punctuated by the occasional dipping cross-court winner, and Serena couldn't do anything about it.

Azarenka then jumped out to a commanding 4-0 lead in the second set, holding to love as Serena sliced a drop shot into the net and hit yet another forehand long. But with a chance to break for the third consecutive time, Azarenka missed a makeable forehand down the line.

If you needed a turning point, that was it, as Williams seemingly stole every bit of the momentum from that one error. Serena hit eight aces and sprayed 32 winners to just 12 errors in the set, and even though Azarenka continued to serve beautifully (92 percent first serve percentage), she had no answer for Serena's onslaught of driving backhands and unreturnable serves.

The comfort break before the start of the third set did little to help the Belarusian, as Serena broke serve to take a 2-1 lead with a pair of beautiful backhand winners, one down the line, one cross court.

Aces No. 13 and 14 consolidated the break, and that was Azarenka done for. Serena wrapped up the match in just under two-and-a-half hours, shining in a blistering third set where she hit 25 winners to Azarenka's four, while making just three unforced errors.

Serena showed her fighting qualities tonight against a very tough opponent, and she prevailed when the chips were down. She had a scare, make no mistake, but I can't see anyone giving her more of a test than Azarenka did.

Serena remains the one to beat in Melbourne. Unfortunately, with the 128-woman draw reduced to just four, there's nobody left who can get the job done.

It really is the spring of hope right now for Serena—and it's the winter of despair for everyone else.