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Venus ushers out Tauziat Veteran Frenchwoman has no answer for defending champ
Updated: Wednesday July 04, 2001 8:52 AM
LONDON (Reuters) -- Defending champion Venus Williams swept into the semifinals on Tuesday after overpowering Nathalie Tauziat 7-5, 6-1 to bring the curtain down on the Frenchwoman's 16th and final appearance at Wimbledon. But the second seed allowed Tauziat to fight back from 5-1 down in the first set to 5-5 and will have to raise her game when she faces either third seed Lindsay Davenport or Belgian Kim Clijsters for a place in the final. It took one hour for the American to overwhelm 33-year-old Tauziat, the oldest woman to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal since Martina Navratilova, who got to the 1994 Wimbledon final at age 37. Despite losing her serve in the third game, 21-year-old Williams raced ahead in the first set. But the ninth seed, who had won just three points on her own serve until then, fought back with a vengeance and suddenly Williams's serve looked very vulnerable. Tauziat saved five set points at 5-1 and another two at 5-3 to get back into the match. Williams stopped the rot at 5-5, held her serve and broke Tauziat to love to take the set. The second set was a mirror image of the first. Williams raced to a 5-1 lead but this time made no mistake, serving out to win on her first match point. For Tauziat, a finalist at Wimbledon in 1998, it was a bitterly disappointing way to bow out as Williams feasted on her serve whenever she dropped it short.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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