NEW YORK -- Serena Williams came into this year's U.S. Open as the No. 1 player in the world and has done nothing in six matches to suggest she is anything otherwise.

	'(Serena's) played a phenomenal three Slams in a row," Lindsay Davenport said.

And while the tennis world is hoping for an epic encounter in Saturday night's championship match between Serena and older sister Venus, here is a sobering statistic to mull: Including her victories at the French Open and Wimbledon, Serena has now won 30 consecutive sets in Grand Slam play, including four against Venus.

On Friday, Serena was clinically effective, sending Lindsay Davenport home, 6-3, 7-5 in the second semifinal match in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Davenport, still struggling to regain her form after January knee surgery, played better than anyone had a right to expect. The fact that Williams -- who had lost only 14 games in five previous matches -- surrendered eight games to Davenport represented something of a moral victory.

"Obviously, I want to win more than anything," Williams said. "It's been three years since I won the U.S. Open. After the Australian, I said last year I need to win the French, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. So it's all happening."

"She's played a phenomenal tournament this year," said Davenport, the No. 4 seed. "She's played a phenomenal three Slams in a row. I mean, that's tough to do."

Davenport, to her credit, was game to the end. She had injured her right knee last November in the season-ending championship and, when it didn't respond to treatment, underwent arthroscopic surgery in January.

Although doctors told her she might miss the entire year, Davenport put in the rehabilitation time -- her 9-to-5 job was confronting a tortuous exercise machine -- and came back ahead of schedule in late July. And by vaulting into the semifinals here, she had reached at least the semis in each of her five comeback tournaments.

"I really thought I would kind of write this year off and start back after I played a number of tournaments and get back in the swing of things next year," Davenport said. "It hasn't quite gone that way."

Davenport, while acknowledging that she wasn't completely at the top of her game, sought solace in her impressive track record here at the National Tennis Center. She won the event in 1998 and, interestingly, has run into Serena the past three years, winning the middle match in 2000.

The first set, like the rest of this 2002 season, was no lo contendre. Davenport, who started slowly in her quarterfinal match against Elena Bovina of Russia, looked sluggish and stiff.

Williams broke her in the second game and the advantage held up. How one-sided was it? Williams hit 16 winners, while Davenport didn't hit one. Williams did not face a break point until the 14th game of the match.

Davenport found a rhythm and was hanging in on her serve, when she finally broke through. In a quadruple-deuce game, Davenport squeezed out her first three break points of the game. She converted on the last when Williams unleashed a backhand down the line that was wide.

It was 5-2 for Davenport and the crowd seemed to sense it was going to get another rollicking three-set match when Williams asserted herself.

She won her serve to narrow the margin to 3-5 and then dug in on Davenport's serve. A single point illustrates what Davenport -- and the rest of women's tennis -- was up against: At love-30, Davenport hit a big serve, which Williams (barely) retrieved. Then she hit a flat forehand that caught a piece of the baseline and Williams scurried to send it back across the net. After another exchange, Williams swung into net and eventually lashed a backhand volley winner.

Davenport had played the point to the best of her considerable ability and still she couldn't win it. Williams won the game on a missed Davenport forehand, and now Davenport's lead had shrunk to 5-4.

The 10th game, for pure drama, was the best. Mixing double-faults with aces, Williams survived three (count them, three) set points and leveled the match with a forceful volley.

"Two really well-placed serves and a second serve at, you know, 92 on the line or whatever it was," Davenport mused. "That's incredible playing at a tight time.

"You almost have to guess a lot of the times. When she's hitting a first serve, I suppose it's a bit like Pete. The guys just don't know where he's going.

"I was disappointed, but you look back now and you just have to say, 'That's too good' on those three points she played."

Serena acknowledged later that she had modeled her serve on Sampras'.

"I used to bring my foot up the way Pete does," she said. "The way I get my shoulder turned is a little bit like his. You have people that you admire when you're younger, you want to be like them."

The momentum had undeniably shifted. No one was terribly surprised when Williams broke Davenport at love and served out the match.

When confronted with the prospect of losing a set at 2-5, Williams won five straight games. And now, the Williams sisters face off in their fourth Grand Slam final among the past five.

"Most amazing thing in sports, almost," Davenport said. "I mean, it's amazing. Could you imagine Tiger Woods challenging a sibling to go head-to-head for all the majors? And in an individual sport, no less. They don't have teammates to help them along."

Said Serena, "It's definitely very remarkable. It's a feat that's never happened before."

Although she is ranked No. 1 and has beaten her older sister in the past two Grad Slam finals, Serena sounded like an underdog.

"Venus is playing great," Serena said. "She might maybe have a little bit of an edge going into this match, so I'm not overconfident. Venus is definitely right there. A little bit ahead of me. I'm already trying to catch up with her and do the best that I can.

"Until 8:30 (Saturday), we'll be friends. Then, when the match is over, we'll be friends again. We realize that our love goes deeper than the tennis game."

Greg Garber is a senior writer at ESPN.com.