LONDON, July 1: Venus and Serena Williams swept past their opponents on Wimbledon’s notorious court number two on Monday – and then fired off some verbal volleys over a perceived snub from Wimbledon organisers.

The American sisters both emerged unscathed from the famous ‘graveyard of champions’ but were left fuming over the fact that neither of them had been asked to grace the major show courts for their fourth-round matches.

Serena, who eased past compatriot Bethanie Mattek 6-3, 6-3, said the snub had been particularly hard on her sister, the defending champion who is gunning for her fifth singles title here.

“I do think it is weird, especially for the defending female champion who has won the tournament four times,” she said, before adding sarcastically: “I have only won twice – but hey, that is not so bad.”Serena further said that she had not been offered any explanation as to why she and her sister, the biggest names left in the women’s draw, had been banished from Centre Court and Court Number One.

“I guess that is a question best addressed to the All England club,” she stated.

“Initially I did think maybe there was a mistake. But at the end of the day, I’ve got to focus on winning my match.”

Venus moved a step closer to her fifth title by beating fast-rising Russian teenager Alisa Kleybanova 6-4, 6-3, setting up a quarter-final meeting with Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn, who upset Serbian second seed Jelena Jankovic.

Afterwards she made it clear she had been surprised with the location for her match.

“There is not too much I am going to say about that in the press,” Venus said frostily. “Obviously we know wherever we play we have to play well and that is pretty much all I’m going to say about that.”

Despite that claim, she went on to agree with a suggestion that men’s champion Roger Federer or his main rival Rafael Nadal would not have to put up with similar treatment. “You said it,” she said. “It is true.”

One of the reasons put forward for the high number of upsets on court number two is that the surface is allegedly less even than on the bigger show courts.

But Venus said she was more unsettled by the proximity to the crowd.

“I’m actually really tall, so I feel a little cramped. There is a lot of back (on the court), but there is less side.”—AFP