According to plan

Venus cruises past Seles; Agassi moves into semifinals

Jennifer Capriati led 6-5 in the second set and was serving for the match, but she fell behind 40-15 and never recovered. AP

NEW YORK (AP) -- Venus Williams reduced her U.S. Open quarterfinal against Monica Seles to something akin to an instructional video.

Want to see aces at more than 110 mph? Check. Some forehand winners? OK. Sure-handed volleying? There you go.

The two-time defending champion simply had too much in every department and beat Seles 6-2, 6-3 Wednesday night to join younger sister Serena in the semifinals, putting each one victory away from a third consecutive all-Williams Grand Slam title match.

Venus, trying to become the first woman to win three straight U.S. Opens since Chris Evert took four in a row from 1975-78, plays 10th-seeded Amelie Mauresmo next. Mauresmo came back to beat Jennifer Capriati 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

The other women's semifinal will have top-seeded Serena -- who lost to Venus in the 2001 Open final and beat her for the titles at the French Open and Wimbledon this year -- against Lindsay Davenport. They won Tuesday.

Defending men's champion Lleyton Hewitt and two-time Open winner Andre Agassi set up a semifinal showdown with victories Wednesday. Hewitt beat No. 20 Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco 6-1, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-2, while Agassi fought back to defeat No. 32 Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 at night to get to the Open semis for the eighth time.

Agassi turns in gutsy effort NEW YORK (AP) -- It had all been so easy for American Andre Agassi, playing his way through a straight-sets march through the U.S. Open, rarely challenged in his first four matches. And then came Max Mirnyi. Agassi, seeded No. 6, had his hands full with the No. 32 seed Belarussian for a while Wednesday before coming from behind to advance to the semifinals. "I thought it was a high-standard match from start to finish," Agassi said. "The first set I let slip away. I had a couple of opportunities. In the end, he raised his game and won the right points. In the second set, he donated a few opportunities back to me. "You don't think about losing or winning a set up or a set down. You think about 'What do I need to do here to get my teeth deeper into this match?'" And that's when he bit into it, raising his game, taking advantage of almost every opportunity. FULL STORY

Agassi-Hewitt will feature the game's two best returners of serve and the last two baseliners to win Wimbledon, Agassi in 1992, Hewitt in July. Hewitt has won their last three meetings, including two on hard courts this year.

It's another intergenerational duel between a player in his 30s and one in his 20s, just like Pete Sampras vs. Andy Roddick in a quarterfinal Thursday.

At 32, Agassi is trying to become the oldest Open champion since 35-year-old Ken Rosewall in 1970.

First things first, though. Agassi had to get past Mirnyi, known as The Beast for his 6-foot-5 frame and fierce serve, which produced 19 aces. The tiebreaker was the first set Agassi had dropped in the tournament.

Two hours into the match came a game that had a bit of everything -- seven deuces, four break points, two double faults, two brilliant passing shots by Agassi, and a game-ending ace at 124 mph. There was also this unusual scene: A spectator shrieked just as Mirnyi served, he faulted, and Agassi allowed him to take another first serve. Mirnyi put his thumb to his nose, opened his hand, and waggled his fingers in the direction of the yell. He then faulted again.

While Mirnyi did eventually hold serve there, the damage was done: Agassi had worn him down. Agassi broke Mirnyi next time to go ahead 6-5 and then served out the set at love. One more break, to 3-2 in the fourth set with a forehand winner, put Agassi in complete control.

Venus set the tone against Seles by breaking serve in the opening game with a backhand drop shot as her father, Richard, took photos from the stands. Venus finished with 23 winners to six for Seles and won the point on 17 of 20 trips to the net.

"I don't think Monica played her best today. I know she was expecting to play better," Venus said. "Being so windy out here made it more difficult."

So did having to play Venus, who dropped just one point on her serve in the first set, and a total of seven in the entire match. Venus faced just one break point, at 4-3 in the second set, and quickly erased it by drilling an ace at 112 mph.

"She just served too well," Seles said. "I couldn't read it at all."

Mauresmo tired of sister act NEW YORK, Sept 4 (Reuters) -- Amelie Mauresmo says it's time she -- or anybody else -- broke the Williams sisters' domination of women's tennis. After reaching the U.S. Open semis with a tough three-set win over Jennifer Capriati, the Frenchwoman was asked if it was a good thing to have Venus and Serena -- who have contested three of the last four Grand Slam finals -- dominating. "I think people are going to get bored of always seeing the same final," she said. "But I can't put myself in the crowd's position. To me, it gets a little bit irritating because you want to go out there and try to beat these guys."

It was as though Venus wanted to show everyone that her three-setter in the fourth round Tuesday against Chanda Rubin was an aberration.

"I was trying to escape that match," Venus said. "I don't like to play like that, especially in the Grand Slams, especially in the later rounds."

Twenty minutes after her victory over Rubin, Venus was out on a practice court with her father, working on some things. Clearly, the fine-tuning paid off.

"The balls were coming back very fast," said Seles, who has won nine major titles and still is ranked No. 5. But she's now 1-8 against Venus and no longer has the court coverage to keep up with either Williams.

"It's really satisfying to know I've been able to work so hard to get to this level, where I can play so well against a player like her," Venus said.

Neither Williams reveals an iota of self-doubt on court, a quality that has helped them overtake Capriati to become 1-2 in the rankings.

Capriati blamed herself for the loss to Mauresmo.

"It hurts. Definitely hurts. Just a lot of expectation, a lot of pressure put on myself," Capriati said, her eyes red. "There's a fine line, there's a balance. That's not good either, to just want it so bad."

She used the words "nervous" and "tight" to describe her play. Later, responding to a question, she added, "Well, I think 'getting tight' is basically saying you choked."

Capriati generally prefers to play quickly, stepping up to the baseline right away to serve or return. Throughout the match, Mauresmo appeared to do what she could to disrupt that, often waving her hand to indicate she wasn't ready for the next point.

That's not all that bothered Capriati, who twice asked the chair umpire if the rock music playing on the speakers between games could be turned down. She also appeared to be thrown off by Mauresmo's tendency to change the pace during points.

Now, like at Wimbledon, Capriati is shut out of a Grand Slam's semifinals.

"This has kind of been a new pressure that I've felt -- coming off being No. 1 and having such a great run," she said. "Human beings are the only ones that go over and over and do the same mistakes over and over. We never learn."

 

Related information

Stories

Wertheim: Who's That Girl? WTA slams fictitious report by SI's Wertheim Hingis falls just short of quarterfinals Sampras upsets Haas; Venus survives scare

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video