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Marching on Serena, Seles lead charge to third round
Posted: Friday September 03, 1999 02:55 AM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Serena Williams has a hard time catching up with older sister Venus. Richard Williams, their father and coach, is predicting the U.S. Open women's singles title match will be a sister act. A 6-4, 6-3 victory over Anne-Gaelle Sidot on Wednesday put the third-seeded Venus into the third round of the year's final Grand Slam tournament. After seventh-seeded Serena Williams joined her in the third round today by downing Jelena Kostanic of Croatia 6-4, 6-2, Venus Williams got a free ride into the fourth round when her next opponent, Henrieta Nagyova of the Slovak Republic, withdrew from the tournament with a right wrist injury. Even in victory, Serena Williams wasn't satisfied. "I really didn't play so well today. I made way too many errors. I was too erratic," she said. "But I came out with the big 'W.'" She served four aces to one for her opponent, and hit 21 winners to just nine for Kostanic. She was broken when serving for the first set the first time, but she didn't make that mistake twice. Defending champion Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles and also moved into the third round Thursday, while Sandrine Testud joined Amanda Coetzer as the only seeded women to be ousted from the tournament. Davenport defeated Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania 6-0, 6-2 to set up a matchup with fellow American Amy Frazier.
The fourth-seeded Seles, twice a champion on these hardcourts, brushed aside Silvia Farina of Italy 6-2, 6-3. No. 14 Testud fell to Spain's Magui Serna 6-3, 6-3. Seles, who hasn't won this title since 1992, had little problem disposing of Farina, who had no weapons to challenge the former No. 1 player. Seles dictated play, even though she played mostly behind the baseline, instead of just inside the line as she did when she ruled women's tennis.
Testud's left thigh was heavily wrapped and could have hampered her mobility. But it was her wayward shots that hurt her. On the final point of the match, Testud's crosscourt forehand sailed wide and long. In other early matches, No. 9 Julie Halard-Decugis of France defeated China's Fang Li 6-2, 6-4; Amy Frazier of Rochester Hills, Mich., downed Natasha Zvereva of Belarus 6-2, 6-4; and Belgium's Kim Clijsters stopped Adriana Gersi of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2. Both Venus and Serena have won two Grand Slam tournament titles each -- all in mixed doubles last year. Venus teamed with Justin Gimelstob to win the Australian and French Open championships. Serena and Max Mirnyi won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Of the two, only Venus, 19, has been in a singles final at one of the four majors, falling to Martina Hingis at the National Tennis Center two years ago. But if they are to meet in this tournament, it will have to be in the final because they are in different halves of the draw. "I hope we can do that well," Venus said. "It would be great." Serena, who turns 18 this month, agrees. "Either way one of us would be able to win our first Grand Slam," she said. "I'm six matches away." She said age would have nothing to do with who would win their match. "It has nothing to do with who's younger. It's about who's playing well and who's not," she said. On Wednesday night, Sidot matched Venus in the power department. But Williams was the steadier of the two, moving her French opponent around the court until she found the right opening. "Ever since Stanford, right after Fed Cup, I decided I was really going to start hitting the ball," Williams said. "I'm a powerful player, but I start taking some pace off the ball and make mistakes. I wasn't making full use of my power that I had."
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