Two weeks ago, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, women’s version, looked like what the Brits would call “a damp squib”.

A dud, that is. (A squib being a firecracker. Yes, they have a different word for everything.)

The tournament was hanging its hat on Agnieszka Radwanska, the world No. 3, but not exactly a woman who sells tickets. She’s a bit frail, and she seems to give up if she gets behind.

Then the Dubai tournament got Venus Williams, as a wild card. And about a week ago, Serena Williams, ranked No. 1 in the world, said, sure, she would come to Dubai, too.

The tournament suddenly got a lot more interesting, when those two were added to Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Caroline Wozniacki and, OK, Radwanska.

And as action began today, the tennis world (and Dubai promoters) were looking at the inviting prospect of an all-Williams final.

Only the second Venus-Serena match since 2009, and the first in a final since the Sony Championships in Doha in 2009.

And when Venus, who has been struggling with an autoimmune disease for the past few years, defeated Wozniacki in the first semifinal, with Serena to follow with little-known Frenchwoman Alize Cornet … well, book us for the all-Williams final!

In the office, we were deep into the Serena vs. Venus history, and found the site dedicated to their head-to-heads — Serena leads 14-10, and 8-3 in finals.

Uh, hold the phone.

Serena lost to Alize Cornet, ranked No. 26 in the world, 6-4, 6-4.

So, the final tomorrow is … Venus vs. Alize Cornet.

Yeah.

Serena said she was awful, and couldn’t explain it. She said on a scale of 10 she was a minus-238.

Serena has been known to produce a stink bomb, now and then.

Then, too, in the early part of this century, when they ran into each other a lot, in the business ends of tournaments, it was thought by some that their father, Richard, didn’t want them going all out against each other, and he would designate who would win and who would lose.

(The infamous incident at Indian Wells, in 2001, which may or may not have been about race, was one of those Venus-Serena moments, from back then. They were supposed to meet in the semis the day, and a few minutes before the highly anticipated match Venus pulled out with an injury. When Serena showed up to play the final the next day, she was booed by much of the crowd.)

So, did Serena just excuse herself from the Dubai final?

We like to think, no, she did not. They faced each other in a semifinal, last year.

But we will never know. Maybe Serena wanted Venus to be able to play a final without worrying about having to beat her sister. Or maybe Serena was just awful tonight.

It would have been fun to see them play. Two of the handful of modern athletes known by their first names.

If they have a chance, in the future, it will be good news for the family, because it would indicate that Venus, in particular, has regained her health.