Wimbledon: Venus, Serena advance to semifinals

Serena Williams handled Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets to set up a sister act in Wednesday's Wimbledon semifinal.

Venus Williams, 36, beat Yaroslava Shvedova, advancing to her first Wimbledon semifinal since 2009.

"This is an awesome day," Venus Williams said Tuesday after taking 7-6, 6-2 sets from Shvedova. "I love playing the game, I always have. Of course when you're winning matches it's sweeter but the wins and the losses always lead to this moment."

Serena Williams won 6-4, 6-4, not long after Venus had punched her ticket into Wednesday's semifinal.

Venus Williams rallied from 5-2 down in the first set to secure the meeting with Angelique Kerber of Germany, who beat Simona Halep. Shvedova was playing in the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time but Venus Williams has five Wimbledon titles, the first coming in 2000. She is the oldest woman in the semifinals at Wimbledon since Martin Navratilova did it at age 37.

Kerber is 3-2 against Venus Williams head-to-head.

The sisters could meet in the finals if Serena Williams takes out Angelique Kerber on Wednesday.

Serena Williams admitted to peeking at the sidecourt scoreboard during breaks in the match.

"I knew Venus was up, and then they showed the score and I was like: yay!," Serena Williams said. "I'm just trying to win my match, as well as my semifinal. I've learned this year to focus on the match and not get carried away.

"Obviously I want her to win so bad. I desperately want her to win if I'm not there."