Friday cover: Just Williams as Serena and Venus meet in Australian Open final

Serena and Venus Williams share The National Sport front page on Friday, January 27 as the sisters prepare to face each other in the Australian Open final.

In the first semi-final, Venus dispatched fellow American CoCo Vandeweghe 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3 to reach her first grand slam final since Wimbledon in 2009 and her first in Australia since 2003 when she lost the only previous all-Williams final at Melbourne Park.

Serena then overwhelmed Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-2, 6-1 in just 50 minutes to put her won win away from a record 23rd grand slam title.

The final will take place on Saturday, starting at 12.30pm UAE time.

* The National staff

[ sports@thenational.ae ]

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ROUTE TO TITLE

Round 1: Beat Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-2
Round 2: Beat Naomi Osaka 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
Round 3: Beat Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-2
Round 4: Beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0
Quarter-final: Beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2
Semi-final: Beat Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4
Final: Beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2

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Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $2.45 million
Current number of staff: 86
Investment stage: Pre-series B
Investors: Investcorp, Liberty City Ventures, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Primal Capital, Wealthwell Ventures, FHS Capital, VN2 Capital, local family offices

Company Profile

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Started: Sept 2017
Based: UAE with a subsidiary in the UK
Industry: FinTech
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Investors: Elaine Jones
Number of employees: 8

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5pm Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (Dirt) 1,400m

Winner AF Nashrah, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)

5.30pm Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,400m

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6pm Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,600m

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6.30pm Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,600m

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