Venus, Serena Williams team to win two doubles matches in a day

WIMBLEDON, England — It would seem that 30-year-old Serena Williams might have wanted to take it easy Wednesday, resting up for her semifinal match Thursday against big-hitting, bigger-screeching Victoria Azarenka.

But instead, Wiliams was spending almost four hours playing doubles with sister Venus, who had lost in the first round of singles here.

With rain having backed up so many of the non-singles matches, Serena and Venus were forced to play twice Wednesday.

And unlike Agnieszka Radwanska, who is also into the women’s semifinals and scheduled to play doubles with her sister Urszula Radwanska against Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci and then possibly a second match, Agnieszka pulled out, the safe move many assumed, so she can be fresh for her semifinal against rising German star Angelique Kerber.

Venus and Serena won a hard-fought match over fourth-seeded Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova 3-6, 6-3, 9-7, and took the second over fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and India’s Sania Mirza, 6-4, 6-3.

The Williams sisters have said they wanted to use Wimbledon to help prepare for Olympic play, where they hope to be chosen for one of the U.S. women’s doubles spots.

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