Venus outlasts Serena for fifth Wimbledon title

Tennis Betting Lines

07/05/2008 - Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Venus Williams won another title- match battle with her sister, Serena, downing her younger sibling in straight sets on Saturday for her fifth Wimbledon championship.

The seventh-seeded Venus defeated Serena 7-5, 6-4, in the third all-Williams final at Wimbledon in seven years. Serena had won both prior matchups in Wimbledon finals, and had taken five of six Grand Slam final matchups with her older sister, but Saturday was Venus' day. The 28-year-old won her second consecutive Wimbledon title, and her third in four years.

Venus also won consecutive Wimbledon finals in 2000 and 2001, before her 26- year-old sister took the titles in 2002 and 2003. The win was the seventh Grand Slam title for Venus, who is now one shy of her younger sister, as Serena failed to pick up her ninth. The Williams sisters have combined to win seven of the last nine Wimbledon titles and at least one of them has appeared in eight of the last nine finals at the All England Club.

The sixth-seeded former world No. 1 Serena looked ready to continue her dominance of her sister in Slam finals early, as she won 10 of the first 11 points with relative ease. Venus came storming back, however, and won the hard-fought first set.

The younger Williams took a 1-0 lead in the second set and, though Venus rebounded and went up 2-1, Serena drew even at 3-3 and 4-4. Venus won a 24- shot rally to go up 5-4, however, and a wide backhand from Serena on the second championship point handed Venus another Wimbledon win.

Serena had her chances to take back control of the match, but struggled in converting break points. She finished 2-for-13 on break points, while Venus took advantage of her opportunities, winning 4-of-7.

The sisters have split four matchups at tennis' most prestigious event, with Serena having won two of three final matchups, and Venus winning Saturday and in a semifinal bout in 2000. The win by Venus also locked up their all-time series at 8-8, and their matchups in majors at 5-5.

This was their second matchup of the season, as Serena beat Venus at a hardcourt event in India earlier this season.

The 26-year-old Serena owns 31 career titles, including three already this year, and is now 8-3 in Grand Slam finals. In addition to her back-to-back Wimbledon titles in '02 and '03, she was the 2004 runner-up here to Russian Maria Sharapova.

Venus improved to 5-2 in her seventh Wimbledon final. She defeated France's Marion Bartoli in last year's finale and also won in 2005.

The 28-year-old Venus is 7-6 in her career Grand Slam finals and owns 37 titles in 59 career championship matches thanks to her win Saturday. She collected just under $1.5 million for her efforts, while Serena took home approximately $750,000.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.