By Chris Oddo | Friday January 26, 2017
Venus and Serena Williams will square off on Saturday evening for all the marbles in Melbourne. The legendary sisters will meet for the 28th time, and for the ninth time in a Grand Slam final. The final will be a historic one in a lot of ways. Here’s 10 facts to get you primed for Saturday’s sister showdown.
More: All-Williams Final Set in Melbourne
1. It will be the oldest final in WTA Open Era History With a combined age of 71 years and 351 days, Venus and Serena will combine to make the oldest WTA Grand Slam final in Open Era history. The 2015 US Open final between Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci (66 years and 58 days) was the previous oldest.
2. The final will be just the third thirtysomething final in the Open Era Only twice previously have two thirtysomethings met in a WTA Grand Slam final. The first, in 1977 (Wade vs. Stove); the second in 2015 (Pennetta vs. Vinci).
3. Individual Age Records Venus Williams, at 36 years and 226 days, is the oldest Australian Open finalist in the Open Era, followed by sister Serena, at 35 years and 125 days.
4. Only Martina has Reached a major final at an older age than Venus Navratilova reached the 1994 Wimbledon final at 37 years and 258 days. That is the oldest Grand Slam finalist in the Open Era, WTA.
5. Only Evert and Navratilova have met more Of Venus and Serena’s 27 matches, 14 have occurred at Grand Slams. Only one pair of WTA rivals has met more at the majors—Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, who met 22 times at majors.
6. Serena is bidding for the Open Era major titles record A win over her sister would give Serena Williams the all-time lead in Open Era Grand Slam titles and move her within one of Margaret Court, whose 24 major titles or the most in history.
7. All-American Affair The final will mark the first all-American final at the Australian Open since Serena defeated Lindsay Davenport in the 2005 Aussie Open final.
8. No. 1 is on the line With a victory Serena Williams would reclaim the WTA’s top ranking. Williams lost the top spot to Angelique Kerber on Sep. 12 of last season. She has held the top ranking for a total of 309 weeks in her career. Venus will rise to No.11 in the rankings if she loses the final, and No.8 if she wins.
9. Venus’ longevity NO player in WTA history has waited as long to return to a Grand Slam final as Venus Williams. She last contested a major final at Wimbledon in 2009. Amelie Mauresmo went seven years between major finals, finishing runner-up at the 1999 Aussie Open, then winning it in 2006.
10. Longest Aussie Open final gap Venus Williams has waited longer than any other player to make a return to the Australian Open final. Venus last appeared in the final in 2003, making it 14 years. The previous biggest gap was seven, achieved by four WTA players (Kerry Melville-Reid, Hana Mandlikova, Amelie Mauresmo and Kim Clijsters