1999 French Open

 

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Sister act

Williams duo defeats Hingis, Kournikova for doubles title

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Posted: Thursday October 14, 1999 08:52 PM

  We are family: Serena (right) and Venus Williams win their first Grand Slam event together after beating Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova. AP

PARIS (CNN/SI) -- The Williams sisters were both disappointed with their singles runs at Roland Garros, but they received a great consolation prize with a victory in Sunday's women's doubles final.

Venus and Serena captured their first Grand Slam title together, beating Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova, 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 8-6 in a battle of teen tennis queens.

It was the third Grand Slam crown for each sister, both having won two titles in mixed doubles competition.

The all-court games of Swiss world number one Hingis, beaten by Steffi Graf in Saturday's singles final, and Russia's Kournikova were not enough to counter the power of the American sisters in the women's doubles final.

Leading comfortably at 6-3, 4-1, the Americans were unsettled by a 20-minute rain delay and Australian Open champions Hingis and Kournikova rallied to win the set in a tiebreak 7-2.

Another rain delay stalled the match with the Williams up 6-5 in the third. But this time the ninth seeds returned with their touch intact and they quickly locked up the title.

"We should have finished it off in two," said Serena, 17, the younger of the two sisters. "That was devastating, we had match point. That definitely wasn't the way to go.

"We should have just stayed calm and made our shots. We just got too tense and didn't perform."

The loss capped off a disappointing two days for Hingis, who was booed and whistled off center court in tears following her controversial loss to Graf.

"How could I sleep last night after a match like that?" said Hingis. "But it's behind me now and I'm just looking at the future."

Hingis and Kournikova, once seen as bitter rivals, are now the best of friends and have formed one of the top doubles partnerships, winning three tournaments so far this season. They were seeded second in Paris.

It was Kournikova who comforted a distraught Hingis on Saturday following her stunning collapse against Graf.

"It was the least I could do," said Kournikova, as she and Hingis hugged during the post-match press conference. "She had a difficult day and I tried to help her.

"It was hard for her, I know I wouldn't like to come back out after a difficult day like that yesterday."

 
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Reuters contributed to this report.



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