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 Down and out Williams, Seles, Davenport eliminated; Sampras advances
Posted: Wednesday July 01, 1998 02:41 PM
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) - Screaming with fury and crying over disputed line calls, Venus Williams' bid for the Wimbledon title ended Wednesday with a quarterfinal loss to Jana Novotna. The 18-year-old American lost her composure and the match, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2). "I had a firm belief that those balls were out and the linespeople should have called them out," she said. "Of course, you have to get over those things." Williams said her tantrums no doubt made the match more entertaining. "The crowd probably enjoyed my emotional outburst," she said. "It brightened up someone's day." Williams played aggressive, serve-and-volley tennis, trying to beat Novotna at her own game. But she failed to win the key points as Novotna, a two-time Wimbledon finalist, showed her experience on grass. Novotna advanced to a semifinal against defending champion Martina Hingis, who overcame Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in three sets to set up a rematch of last year's final. Reaching the other semifinal were Nathalie Tauziat and Natasha Zvereva. Tauziat upset No. 2 Lindsay Davenport while Zvereva ousted Monica Seles, both in straight sets. In men's play, defending champion Pete Sampras, closing in on his fifth title in six years, swept Mark Philippoussis 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-4. Sampras, who hasn't dropped a set in five matches, was out-aced 14-10 in a contest between two of the fastest servers in the game. But he never lost serve, saving three break points against him while breaking the Australian twice. Sampras will next face Tim Henman, who beat Petr Korda 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to become the first British player to reach the men's semis since Roger Taylor in 1973. Korda, who strained his left Achilles' tendon two days ago, was limping and received treatment during the first set.
Henman got a standing ovation from the Centre Court crowd, his victory providing a lift for Britain following England's World Cup defeat to Argentina on Tuesday night. Sampras said Henman, bidding to become the first British men's champion since 1936, will have enormous crowd support Friday. "It's going to be tough," he said. "But you still have to play well. It's still one-on-one." Richard Krajicek and Goran Ivanisevic advanced to the other semifinal with straight-set wins. Krajicek, the 1996 champion, cruised to a 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win over 65th-ranked Davide Sanguinetti of Italy. Ivanisevic, a former two-time finalist, beat Jan Siemerink in three tiebreakers. Williams twice became enraged at chair umpire Mike Morrissey after shots by Novotna were not called out. "That was so far out," she shouted in the first game of the second set, then went up to the lineswoman and continued arguing. Even more dramatic was her reaction to a non-call in the seventh game. "I know it's out, she knows it's out, everyone knows it's out. But you don't know it's out," Williams, her face contorted in anger and tears, screamed at Morrissey. After double faulting on the next point to go down 4-3, Williams cried during the changeover. Williams lost her temper again in the 11th game, standing indignantly with her hands on her hips and complaining about a ball that wasn't called long. When the next shot was called out, Williams clapped her racket, mocking the lineswoman. Williams said she didn't regret her outbursts and that she played better afterward.
"I feel I needed to do that probably because I really wanted to win those points," she said. "The ball was really out and sometimes you need to make sure you can go onto the next point." Williams seemed to regain control but, in the tiebreaker, she played carelessly and made a series of unforced errors as Novotna closed the match. Williams had raced to a 4-1 lead in the first set but lost three straight games. Novotna broke for a 6-5 lead and served out the set in the next game. Seles, the No. 6 seed, fell behind quickly and never recovered as the unseeded Zvereva, a doubles specialist, moved her around the court and won 7-6 (7-4), 6-2. Zvereva, who ousted seven-time champion Steffi Graf last week, beat Seles for the first time in five matches. She reached a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time since her 6-0, 6-0 loss to Graf in the 1988 French Open final. Seles, whose father died in May after a long battle with stomach cancer, reached the French Open final three weeks later, losing to Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. Seles won her first four Wimbledon matches in straight sets and appeared to be a legitimate threat to win the only Grand Slam title to elude her. But Zvereva, wearing red-tinted wraparound sun glasses, forced her into repeated errors and made her l ook ordinary. "I just didn't feel anything was going well," Seles said. "I just couldn't put two points together today. ... I was missing my backhand all over the place." Hingis lost a set for the first time at the tournament but outlasted French Open champ Sanchez Vicario 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. The match featured long rallies that seemed more appropriate to the clay of the French Open than the grass of Wimbledon. Several times in the final set, Hingis appeared out of breath. The fifth-seeded Spaniard, known for her tireless retrieving, pushed Hingis to the brink, saving nine consecutive break points over the second and third sets. Hingis finally converted on the 10th break point, ripping a backhand pass that ended a long, corner-to-corner rally and gave her a 4-2 lead in the third set. She raised her arms and caught her breath by sitting on a linesman's chair at the back of the court. Although Sanchez Vicario broke back in the next game, Hingis won the next two games to close the match. She smiled with relief and pumped both fists after hitting an inside-out forehand which the Spaniard returned wide. Tauziat downed Davenport 6-3, 6-3 to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal. The 16th-seeded Frenchwoman had lost her last seven matches to the American. "That was by far the best she ever played against me," Davenport said. "She just outplayed me completely today."
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