As omens go, they don’t get much better for Venus and Serena Williams.
Five times they have reached the ladies’ doubles semi-finals at The Championships – and five times they have won the title.
The American duo returned to court after their singles quarter-final action earlier in the day to beat Russian pair Elena Vesnina – facing Serena Williams for a second time on Thursday – and Ekaterina Makarova 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-2 in an entertaining encounter on No.2 Court.
The Williams sisters will face Germany’s Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the semi-finals for a place in their first Grand Slam doubles final since winning the 2012 title at Wimbledon, the 13th Grand Slam doubles triumph of their careers.
“This tournament has been huge for us to play,” said Venus, who already has one eye on the Olympic Games in Rio. “We've played so sporadically the last few years. It's not easy to come out and play one match, then not play for a year.
“We've had a chance to build a little bit, starting in Rome, then the French, and coming along here. As a team, our goal is to represent the United States the best we can in Rio. It's a big job, but we're going to try to do it.”
While Venus relished the chance to quickly move on from her singles quarter-final defeat by Angelique Kerber, there was double disappointment for Martina Hingis, who bowed out of both the ladies’ and mixed doubles draws on Thursday.
Top seeds and defending champions Hingis and Sania Mirza were stunned by Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova earlier in the day, the Hungarian-Kazakh duo breaking the Swiss twice in the first set and India’s Mirza at the start of the second to run away with a 6-2, 6-4 victory.
Goerges and Pliskova earned their semi-final berth with a shock win over French Open champions and No.2 seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic, while Babos and Shvedova will take on Americans Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears, who booked their spot on Wednesday.
Hingis later returned to defend her mixed doubles title with partner Leander Paes, only to suffer a second defeat at the hands of Great Britain's Heather Watson and Finnish partner Henri Kontinen.
Having advanced with walkovers in the first two rounds, Watson and Kontinen battled back to secure a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory and book a quarter-final with Scott Lipsky of the United States and Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva.
