Venus (L) and Serena Williams, seen here in April 2003, did not breach a 2001 contract for an unplayed tennis tournament because the promise to play was a letter signed by their father and not the tennis stars, their lawyer said at the close of a trial.[File Photo/AP]

Tennis players Venus and Serena Williams and their father will not have to pay damages in a US$9 million breach of contract lawsuit filed by promoters of a planned tennis match, a lawyer in the case said on Thursday.

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Following a five-week trial, a jury in Palm Beach County found that Richard Williams had breached a contract but did not order him to pay damages. It also cleared the sisters of charges they made negligent misrepresentations, said F. Malcolm Cunningham Jr., who represented Venus and Serena.

"We're very, very happy," Cunningham said. "This is a straight-out victory for Venus and Serena Williams."

Promoters Carol Clarke and Keith Rhodes said that they would have made as much as $9 million from a 2001 exhibition match between the sisters and unnamed retired male tennis stars, and that the match would have earned up to $45 million.

Clarke and Rhodes accused Richard Williams' company and his daughters of violating a contract. The sisters argued that their father had no authority to make agreements for them.

Cunningham said the jury on Thursday found that Richard Williams' company had breached a contract he signed, and that Williams himself had made fraudulent misrepresentations. But in both cases it said the promoters had suffered no losses as a result.

"These people called themselves promoters but they had never promoted anything before," Cunningham said