AFP/London


Serena Williams sank her sister Venus in a battle of the all-conquering Wimbledon titans yesterday as Maria Sharapova dug deep to join the world number one in reaching the quarter-finals.
The Williams sisters have won the title five times each out of the last 15 at the All England Club but it was Serena who triumphed in their first Grand Slam clash since the 2009 Wimbledon final.
Meanwhile, 2004 Wimbledon champion Sharapova, 2012 beaten finalist Agnieszka Radwanska and two-time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka also booked their places in Tuesday’s quarter finals.
All eight Wimbledon quarter-finalists from last year are out of the tournament, while Serena and Sharapova are the only two from the world’s top 12 who are still standing.
US duo Madison Keys and Coco Vandeweghe, Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky and Garbine Muguruza of Spain also made it to the last eight.
Serena secured her 14th win in 26 clashes with Venus and the sisters hugged at the net after the match on Centre Court finished 6-4, 6-3.
Playing each other “definitely doesn’t get easier”, Serena said.
“I was out there, I thought, wow, I’m 33 and she just turned 35. I don’t know how many more moments like this we’ll have. I plan on playing for years but you never know if we’ll have the opportunity to face each other.”
As for the match, “it was really good for me to get it done in straight sets and just put this behind me and move forward”, she said.
Serena faces Azarenka, the 2012 and 2013 Australian Open champion, in the quarter-finals after the Belarusian 23rd seed saw off the in-form Belinda Bencic, on a career-high ranking of 22, 6-2, 6-3.
Sharapova endured her toughest test so far but still made it through to the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Kazakhstan’s unseeded Zarina Diyas.
While Serena, Sharapova and Azarenka have 27 Grand Slam titles between them, there are no major winners at all in the bottom half of the draw, where 13th seed Radwanska is the highest-ranking player still standing after Caroline Wozniacki crashed out.
The Danish fifth seed, blew her chance to make the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat to 20th seed Muguruza.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer’s pursuit of an 18th grand slam title gathered momentum as the Swiss reached his 45th major quarter-final with a serene 6-2 6-2 6-3 victory over Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.
Breaking Federer’s serve at this year’s championships is turning into mission impossible as Bautista Agut became the fourth man to try and fail.
The world number two has now held strong for eight straight matches, stretching over 106 successive service games—with Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber the last man to get a look in during last month’s first round match at the Halle Open.
Andy Murray also advanced, slaying Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic while controversial Australian Nick Kyrgios was under fire for ‘tanking’ in his last-16 exit.
British third seed Murray claimed a 7-6 (9/7), 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over 2.11-metres (six feet, 11 inches) tall Karlovic to book his place in the last-eight at the All England Club for the eighth successive year.
Murray, the 2013 champion, will next face unseeded Canadian Vasek Pospisil.
Karlovic, at 36 the oldest man to reach the last-16 in 39 years, fired 29 aces in the three-hour Centre Court encounter, but that was well below par for a man who had blasted 136 in his first three rounds.
French 21st seed Richard Gasquet defeated Kyrgios 7-5, 6-1, 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (8/6) in a controversial clash to avenge a second round loss to the temperamental Australian in 2014.
The 29-year-old, a semi-finalist in 2007, will next face fourth seed Stan Wawrinka after winning a last-16 clash at the majors for just the third time in 19 attempts.
French Open champion Wawrinka defeated Belgian 16th seed David Goffin 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals for the second successive year.