2009 WTA Doha Championship: Serena Outlasts Venus in Epic Three-Setter

When Dinara Safina retired in her round-robin match against Jelena Jankovic and the score even at 1-1, Serena Williams was guaranteed the year-end No. 1 ranking. Although it may seem as if Safina handed the ranking over, Serena backed up her claim to the top ranking with a gutsy 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4) win over sister Venus.

The win against Venus also gives Serena a 2-0 record in the Maroon Group of the round-robin portion of the tournament, and pretty much secures her a place in the Semifinals of the year-end championship.

Leading 5-4 in the deciding set and serving for the match, Serena lost her focus and Venus turned up the intensity, breaking her sister's serve for the seventh time in the match and evening the third set at 5-5.

Venus held at love to take a 6-5 lead in the final set and looked destined to break Serena's serve once again. At 30-30 and with Serena serving, Venus forced an error, took a 30-40 lead in the game, and was up match point.

With Serena's back against the wall and down match point, she delivered once again, playing the point with extreme aggression and evening the game at deuce. She would later go on to hold serve and even the set at 6-6. This sent the third and final set of what had been a roller-coaster ride of a match into a tie-break.

Opening on Venus' serve, Serena took an early 3-2 advantage. She then delivered an ace, her 10th of the match, and led 4-2. Venus closed the margin to 5-4 before giving Serena the opportunity to serve for the match.

Up 6-4 in the tie-break, Serena closed out the match with her 11th and final ace, crushing Venus' hopes of repeating at the season-ending championship. Although the final score seems to indicate a slug-fest, neither Serena nor Venus played to the best of their abilities.

Overall, each of the sisters was broken a total of seven times. Serena finished with 11 aces and three double faults, whereas Venus struggled with her serve the entire match and ended the day with six aces and 10 double faults.

The match consisted of long rallys and short points, a large amount of aces, and nearly as many double faults; Serena and Venus fighting for every single point, neither sister willing to give the other an advantage.

This was Serena and Venus' 22nd career meeting. Serena is now the winner of the past three matches between the two sisters (in Miami, at Wimbledon, and now at Doha) and leads the all-time series 12-10.