It wasn’t a great day for Serena Williams, the defending champion who had fought her way back into the Grand Slam she has been so dominant at. After almost spending a year out of the professional circuit recovering from a freak foot injury first and some life threatening blood clots in her lungs later, Serena made her way back into the immaculate grass fields of the All English Club in Wimbledon. It was an emotive and exciting comeback for a player who had fought so hard to get back into the game. But it all ended a little too soon. Her sister, and five-time Wimbledon Champion, Venus Williams, was working her way back into the top of the sport. She was running for her sixth title at Wimbledon, but couldn’t hold up to Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova and lost in straight sets in the 4th round. Pironkova is not an unfamiliar face to Venus Williams. Truth is that she has been somewhat of a nightmare for Venus recently. Not only did she just outplay her 6-2, 6-3 earlier today, but she also defeated Williams a year ago to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal. Pironkova had also won their first round match in the unexpected and odd-breaking first round win against Venus Williams in the 2006 Australian Open. It is certainly an unfamiliar situation for the Williams sisters. Truth is that the two of them have won 9 of the last 11 titles disputed in Wimbledon. Just to put this into the right perspective you might want to consider that the two sisters have faced each other in the finals in four different occasions. After what we saw from both players in the first round, some fans and sports commentators where starting to imagine that the two sisters could once again win it all and see each other in the Final. Not many were expecting the Williams sisters to be ousted in the same day on the tournament they had dominated for over a decade. Serena Williams was ousted by Marion Bartoli 6-3, 7-6 (6) in one very exciting game. Not exactly what we had in mind for Serena’s comeback. We had some great expectations for Serena Williams. This was somewhat of a chance to vindicate her status. She had been fighting and struggling against so many health problems that it seems quite an unexpected end to her return to Grand Slam tennis. Serena, a four-time winner at the All England Club, saved four match points before the ninth-seeded Frenchwoman closed out the contest by hitting a service winner into the corner. It was Williams' earliest exit at Wimbledon since a third-round loss in 2005. Serena had 20 unforced errors and even though she had 29 winners she wasn’t really too focus on her game. Let’s consider that she only managed to convert one of five break points. Bartoli served 10 aces, two more than Williams, and kept down her errors to 17. Things weren’t great for her sister either. Venus was clearly having and off day. Contrary to what we are used to see in her precise and power filled game, Venus committing 16 unforced errors and managed to convert only one of four break points. She was broken four times. The 33rd-seeded Pironkova new she had what it takes to defeat Venus. Only a year ago, Pironkova lost in the semifinals here last year to eventual runner-up Vera Zvonareva. If she really wants to make it into the final, she’ll stay focused just as she did while she played steady tennis against Venus.
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