After beating Israel’s Shahar Peer with 7-6 & 6-3 during their fourth meeting of the year, held just yesterday on Sunday 5th September, 2010, the two-times world champion Venus Williams has secured her place in the US Open quarter-finals.
Though, initially Williams seemed a bit struggling with her own serve in the windy conditions and of her opponent, Shahar Peer – the tournament’s 16th seed, as well.
However later by the end of the first set, Williams had regained the power of her ground strokes that proved too much for Shahar Peer and she remained a pig-headed opponent in the next set that was completely dominated by the American player right from the start and that Williams, the seven-time Grand Slam champion, also won with greater ease.
Prior the yesterday’s match, back in February, 2010 Venus Williams – the African-American and Shahar Peer – the Israeli Jew, had faced each other under the strangest of situations in a semifinal event on a rough side-court in Dubai.
In 2009 Shahar Peer was barred from the event because of her nationality while Venus played in that event and then spoke for the WTA by saying “all the players support Shahar Peer. We are all athletes and we stand for tennis.”
Praising her opponent, Shahar Peer said “she was really supportive of me and she was always on my side and always stood up. Doesn’t matter if it was this year or the year before when I didn’t get the visa. She stood up in that final and spoke for me”.
Shahar Peer
