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NEW YORK -- Serena Williams did her part by dethroning
Lindsay Davenport as U.S. Open champion Friday, but big sister
Venus limped off in defeat to Martina Hingis and missed a chance at
a historic all-in-the-family final.
Serena reached her first major final with the aid of a shanked
shot that squirted in for a key break and 12 aces that helped seal
the victory. The muscular 17-year-old came back from a dreadful
drubbing in the second set, in which she lost 14 of the last 16
points, then put on a buoyant display of grit and athleticism to
win 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
|  | | Lindsay Davenport couldn't keep up with Serena Williams' power game. |
Venus, who was 17 when she lost in the final against Hingis two
years ago, couldn't complete the sister-sister matchup that their
father, Richard, had been predicting the past few weeks.
"Now she's playing for two people," Venus said. "Hopefully, I
gave Martina a good workout today."
In an exhausting duel that left Williams cramping at the end and
barely able to reach the net on serves, Hingis came through with a
6-1, 4-6, 6-3 victory.
"It was a tremendous match, especially in the third set,"
Hingis said. "I tried to keep her running. I knew she was
cramping.
"I just didn't want that finals to happen, Williams-Williams."
Hingis said she'd heard more than enough of Richard Williams'
predictions.
"They're three against me, so talking I can't beat them," she
said. "I have to beat them on court."
It was more a battle of wills than a display of beautiful tennis
with Venus' serve broken nine times and Hingis' six. But what it
lacked in aesthetic value, it certainly more than made up for in
tension and effort with both players producing spectacular shots at
times.
None was better than the one Hingis made to set up match point.
Williams had flicked a deft drop volley near the sideline, across
the court from Hingis. The 18-year-old from Switzerland chased it
down and sent a running one-handed backhand over the net post into
the corner.
"It was unbelievable," Hingis said. "I was so lucky. I put my
racket there and it just went in. I was running, like, boom, boom,
boom, one step after the other. I didn't know what was going to
happen. I didn't believe I was going to get it in but it went into
the corner."
The crowd roared at that shot, as it had on so many others, and
Hingis followed it with a service winner to advance to her third
Grand Slam final this year and seventh overall. She already owns
five major titles.
"I lost a lot of speed on my serve in the middle set,"
Williams said. "I definitely didn't feel good at that point. We
were both doing a lot of running. I was moving her and she was
moving me. I'm sure she was tired. She was breathing hard,
struggling to get shots."
Rain delayed the start of the semis by 2½ hours, and the players
had to cope with conditions that ranged from glaring sun to dark
gray shade.
Little separated Serena Williams and Davenport in the first set
until the last game, when Williams came up with a darting volley
crosscourt for deuce. Davenport netted a forehand on the next
point, then couldn't handle a deep forehand by Williams on set
point.
Venus watched the first set at courtside, then retreated to warm
up for her match.
Davenport, No. 2, seemed on the way back to the final when she
raced through the second set in just 24 minutes and allowed
Williams only two points in the three service games she was broken.
"Lindsay was playing just unbelievable," Williams said. "She
was hitting shots for winners, just attacking everything. I became
really determined. I was, like, 'I'm tired of this. I want
something also.' "
Williams, seeded No. 7 and playing in only her second U.S. Open,
found the range again when she served for the first time in the
third set. She unleashed three straight aces to let Davenport know
she wasn't going away.
They stayed on serve to 3-3, when Williams gained the first
break point of the set with a running forehand volley crosscourt
after a superb rally.
Then luck entered the equation.
Williams lunged to her right to reach for a return and squirted
a mis-hit shot just over the net. The surprised Davenport ran in to
scoop it up awkwardly, but slapped it long to fall behind 4-3.
"After 17 years, I say I deserve a break once in a while,"
Williams said with a smile.
She made her own luck after that, holding serve to 5-3 after
fending off five break points in an eight-deuce game.
Davenport's strategy through the match was to take aim at
Williams' backhand, the most vulnerable part of her game. That
tactic paid off in the second set, but wasn't enough to take the
match.
"I felt that if I won that game, I would have a great chance of
winning the match because all I had to do was hold serve,"
Williams said. "I felt if Lindsay won the game, I would have to
fight. I was never going to give up. I never at one time felt I was
going to lose."
Williams' relentlessness and sheer power on serve proved the
difference in the end, as she closed out the last game with three
service winners and an ace that ran her tournament total to 54, the
most of any woman.
"I really think I've developed mentally a lot," Williams said.
"I'm more composed out there. I didn't get nervous or anything. I
just stayed determined and focused. I'm able to pull through."
Davenport, one of the game's best returners, looked helpless at
times when Williams served.
"Every break point I had, she just hit a huge, huge first
serve," said Davenport, who won her second Grand Slam title at
Wimbledon two months ago.
"She has a great serve, one of the best in women's tennis, if
not the best. She throws in one at 115 mph, then she'll slow it up.
She has a great kick serve. She mixes it up better than her sister
does. That's what you have to deal with -- the serve, getting them
back, but still be aggressive. It's a hard thing to do."
In making her surge up the rankings in her second year on the
tour, Williams won three WTA Tour titles, the most recent at
Manhattan Beach, Calif., last month when she beat Hingis in the
semifinals.
Serena and Venus became the first sisters to meet in a WTA Tour
final when they played on a hardcourt at Key Biscayne, Fla., in
March. Venus took that title 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to run her record to 3-0
against Serena.
In their previous pro matches, Venus won on a hardcourt in the
second round of the 1998 Australian Open, and on clay in the
quarters of the 1998 Italian Open. | |
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Pioline upsets Kuerten, reaches U.S. Open semis
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Serena Williams says she was determined to win.
wav: 119 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Martina Hingis talks about her amazing shot down the line.
wav: 120 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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