All-Williams final as Serena faces sister Venus
We’re guaranteed a Williams sister winning the women’s singles championship at the 2017 Australian Open after 13th-seeded Venus Williams and second-seeded Serena Williams won their semifinal matches.
Their first competitive meeting came in the second round of the 1998 Australian Open (Venus Williams won). The Australian Open final will be their 28th meeting overall.
Their finals matchup (at 3:30 a.m. ET Saturday) will be their 15th meeting at a Grand Slam, their ninth in a Grand Slam final.
In all Grand Slam matches, Serena is 9-5 against her sister.
The eight times the Williamses have met in Grand Slam finals makes their matchup the second most frequent in women’s tennis history behind the 14 Grand Slam finals contested by Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert.
The Williamses’ combined age of 71 years — Venus is 36, Serena is 35 — makes this the oldest women’s final in the Open era in terms of combined age. The previous high came at the 2015 US Open final between Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci (66 years).
