Serena downs Venus as Vandeweghe sinks Safarova for Wimbledon quarters

Serena Williams stood three wins away from hoisting her fourth successive grand slam title by trumping elder sister Venus 6-4 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon.

A contest featuring two women who between them have hoisted the Rosewater Dish 10 times should have been a blockbuster but turned out to be yet another awkward anti-climax - as has been the case in their previous 25 meetings.

Serena started off by thundering through the first eight points of the match, bagged the opening set by hurling down three aces, and completed her 15th win over Venus by breaking the 35-year-old to love.

The top-ranked American will meet either former world number one Victoria Azarenka of Belarus or rising Swiss talent Belinda Bencic in today’s quarter-final.

Meanwhile, French Open runner-up Lucie Safarova was sent tumbling out of Wimbledon in the fourth round yesterday by unseeded American Coco Vandeweghe.

Vandeweghe, the world number 47, edged out the Czech sixth seed 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/4) on Court 3 to reach the quarter-finals of a major for the first time.

Vandeweghe took the fourth round contest to match point with an ace, then won it with an unreturned serve.

The 23-year-old faces either fourth seed Maria Sharapova, the 2004 champion, or unseeded Kazakhstani Zarina Diyas in Tuesday’s quarter-finals.

Safarova, 28, reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon last year and made it to her first Grand Slam singles final last month when she lost to Serena Williams in the French Open final.

Vandeweghe, meanwhile, had never been beyond the third round of a Grand Slam before this year’s Wimbledon.

Safarova was the third seed in a row she has downed, after defeating Karolina Pliskova and Samantha Stosur on her way to the fourth round.

Beating Safarova is only the fourth time in 17 attempts that Vandeweghe has overcome a top 10 player.