Williams sisters close to family reunion at Wimbledon

Venus Williams didn’t just turn away her quarterfinal opponent Tuesday, she turned back the clock.

In a nostalgia-stirring performance, the five-time Wimbledon winner secured a spot in a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time in six years by beating Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova, 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Williams, 36, also kept alive the prospect of playing her younger sister, Serena, in what would be a captivating final. Serena, 34, the defending champion and holder of six Wimbledon titles, advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

The four men’s quarterfinals are Wednesday. Seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer plays Croatia’s Marin Cilic; tournament (and crowd) favorite Andy Murray of Scotland faces France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga; and Californian Sam Querrey, who knocked out No. 1 Novak Djokovic in a stunning upset, plays Canada’s Milos Raonic.

Hours after the Williams sisters advanced in the tournament, Bob and Mike Bryan did the same. In a men’s doubles match lasting more than three hours, the second-seeded Bryan brothers beat Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic and the Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek, 7-5, 6-7 (10), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Although they have won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, the Bryans, who grew up in Calabasas, haven’t won a major since the 2014 U.S. Open.

It has been a bumpy five years for Venus Williams since she was diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease causing chronic fatigue and muscle soreness. Part of her treatment involved adopting a vegan raw food diet to help reduce inflammation and the energy-draining symptoms of the ailment.

“The good part is, I always felt like I had the game,” she said. “This is always a plus, when you know you have the game. So you just have to keep working until things fall into place.”

In winning Tuesday, Williams rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the tiebreaker, then cruised in the second set, paving the way for a semifinal against Germany’s Angelique Kerber, who beat Romania’s Simona Halep, 7-5, 7-6 (2).

Tennis Channel analyst Lindsay Davenport said what Williams has lost physically with age, she’s gained in wile and savvy.

“She’s definitely a half-step to even a step slower than she was at the height of her career,” said Davenport, who won Wimbledon in 1999 and had a 14-13 career record against Williams. “But she comes into matches with much more awareness now of her opponent and their game. She knows what she needs to do, and recognizes that better than she did the first part of her career when she really only worried about herself.

“She’s smarter about managing herself, and she has to be at 36.”

To this point, Williams’ best finish in a major during the past five years was reaching the quarterfinals last year at the Australian and U.S. Opens. Five times during that span she lost in the opening round. Despite her struggles with the illness, she said she didn’t consider retirement.

“Retiring is the easy way out,” she said. “I don’t have time for easy.”

Serena Williams’ path to this point in the tournament might not have been easy, but she has made it look that way. Four of her five victories have come in straight sets, and her only set loss was by tiebreaker to fellow American Christina McHale in the second round.

Next up for Serena Williams is Russia’s Elena Vesnina, who advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova. Williams and Vesnina have played each other four times, with Williams winning all four, including a first-round victory at the 2008 U.S. Open.

“I have to say what I think really is my game is my mental toughness because just not only to be able to play, to win, but to be able to come back when I’m down,” Serena Williams said. “Both on the court and after tough losses, just to continue to come back and continue to fight, it’s something that takes a lot of tenacity.”