NEW YORK -- Oracene Williams admits she was pulling for her youngest daughter in the U.S. Open women's singles final.

"I was trying to give her a little edge," Oracene Williams said of Serena Williams. "I was hoping Serena would win the second set for a little competition. I was just trying to encourage Serena to pick it up just a little. Serena would have Venus on the ropes and let up a little."

Instead, Serena lost to her older sister, Venus, 6-2, 6-4 Saturday night.

"Venus just played beautifully," Oracene Williams said of the first women's final held at night. "She's a night person. She was awake."

Serena, on the other hand, "did not play her best. I think she wasn't as focused. It's a sibling thing, and it always has been."

Wearing a pink pants suit with miniature license plates on both lapels, one saying Venus, the other Serena, Oracene called the sibling confrontation, the first in a Grand Slam tournament final since Wimbledon in 1884, historical.

"I am overwhelmed and tired," she said. Asked why, she responded, "Because it was the big one."

That immediately brought a response from Oracene's younger sister, Ruth Alexander, who interjected, "Because I'm here."

Asked why Venus won her second straight U.S. Open, defeating the 1999 U.S. Open winner, Oracene had a ready reply.

"Venus is more mature. Serena is still a little raw. Venus plays smart. The wind bothered Serena a little more than Venus," she said. "And they were playing each other, which was kind of strange."