By Ashley Marshall, USTA.com
Despite playing just a handful of matches together this year, the Williams sisters will have history on their side when they compete for their first doubles title in four years Saturday.
Venus and Serena Williams hold a perfect 13-0 record in Grand Slam doubles finals and, lifted by the prospects of a fourth gold medal in the Olympic Games in Rio this summer, have battled into another Wimbledon final, despite both sisters making deep runs in the singles competition.
The Williams sisters defeated No. 8 seeds Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova, 7-6 (3), 6-4, in Friday’s semifinals on No. 1 Court. In the final, they will play the fifth-seeded duo of Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova, who beat American doubles specialists Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears, 6-4, 6-2, in the other semifinal.
Venus beat Shvedova in the singles quarterfinals earlier in the week, but the foursome have never squared off in a doubles match.
Unseeded on the London grass after playing just four doubles matches in two tournaments over the past 18 months, the sisters will nonetheless enter the final with pedigree and experience on their side. They have won five doubles titles together at the All England Club in 2000, 2002, 2008, 2009 and 2012, and they will be keen to wrap up their 2016 Rio Olympics preparations with another championship trophy.
Should they lift the trophy together Saturday afternoon, it would be their 14th major doubles title and their first since capturing the title here in 2012, one month before returning to the All-England Club to sweep their way to Olympic gold at the 2012 London Games.
In addition to their five Wimbledon doubles titles, Venus and Serena have won the Australian Open four times and Roland Garros and the US Open twice each.
They have also captured a combined 28 major singles titles between them, a number which could climb to 29 should Serena vanquish Angelique Kerber in the women’s singles final earlier Saturday.
Venus and Serena reached the women's doubles final by toppling No. 11 seeds Andreja Klepac and Katerina Srebotnik of Slovenia in the first round and defeating Elise Martens and An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium in straight sets in Round 2.
They upset the sixth-seeded Czech duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the round of 16 and needed three sets to see off No. 4 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-2, in the quarterfinals.