Williams sisters eyeing a family affair as Jankovic crashes to shock defeat
The Williams sisters are lining up a third singles final showdown after No2 seed Jelena Jankovic joined the list of high-profile casualties at Wimbledon.
The Serb, clearly struggling with a knee injury, collapsed to a 6-3, 6-2 defeat to Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn to leave the quarter-finals without any of the top four seeds for the first time. No5 seed Elena Dementieva is now the highest seeded player left in the women’s draw, while the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, who have won the title six times between them, continue to make steady progress from opposite sides of the draw.
Reigning champion Venus is gunning for a fifth title and looked in ominous form as she shrugged aside Alisa Kleybanova to earn a last eight clash with Tanasugarn, playing in her first ever Grand Slam quarter-final.
laying on Court One, the so-called ‘graveyard of champions’, Venus rarely looked troubled on her way to a 6-3, 6-4 win over the Russian.
Serena, meanwhile, who beat her elder sister on both their previous final meetings, in 2002 and 2003, also eased through with a 6-3, 6-3 win over fellow American Bethanie Mattek.
She now meets 14th seed Agnieszka Radwanska for a place in the semi-finals after the Pole caused another shock by beating fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 on Centre Court.