Power of Caring
  presented by CIGNA

Sister, sister

It's all-Williams in Grand Slam final; Kafelnikov upset

Click here for more on this story

Posted: Friday October 01, 1999 04:55 PM

Venus Williams will face her sister, Serena, in the womens' final of the Grand Slam Cup. AP

MUNICH, Germany (AP) -- This time both Williams sisters did their part and set up a family showdown in the most lucrative tournament in the world.

Serena Williams, the U.S. Open champion, beat Lindsay Davenport 6-3, 6-4 after older sister Venus defeated top-ranked Martina Hingis 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 9-7 in Friday's semifinals of the $6.7 million Grand Slam Cup.

Sunday's final will add $1.3 million to the family budget, with $800,000 going to the winner.

It will also give Serena, at 18 one year younger than Venus, the chance to gain her first victory in the historic sister-sister series. She also collects a $100,000 bonus for her U.S. Open title, win or lose.

Serena and Venus became the first sisters to meet in a WTA Tour final when they played at Key Biscayne, Fla., in March, with Venus winning 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

Venus also won their two previous pro non-title matches, in the second round of the 1998 Australian Open and in the quarters of the 1998 Italian Open.

They could have met in the final of the U.S. Open three weeks ago, but Venus lost to Hingis in the semis. Serena beat Davenport in the semis and then defeated Hingis to win the family's first Grand Slam tournament title.

Venus, who snapped a two-match losing streak to Hingis, didn't want to take her latest success in the sisters' bitter rivalry with Hingis as revenge.

"I don't believe in revenge. No matter what happened, I still lost at the U.S. Open," she said.

In an often electrifying showdown between two 19-year-olds that took two hours, 31 minutes, Venus relied on her big serve and sheer power to rally against Hingis, who was two points away from victory.

Serena had a considerably smoother path into the final, winning in 73 minutes and never looking in danger.

Venus, the defending champion, started well, firing winners and dominating her match, rolling through the opening set and seizing a 4-1 lead in the second.

Hingis celebrated her 19th birthday the day before with a visit to the Oktoberfest, but she said that was not the cause of her slow start.

"I just didn't understand in the beginning what was happening," Hingis said. "It was almost embarrassing."

The match suddenly turned around, with Venus making mistakes and Hingis winning 10 of 11 points in a stretch to win four straight games and lead 5-4.

In the tiebreaker, Hingis saved a match point with a volley. A forehand error by Venus gave Hingis a set point, and she took it with a brilliant passing shot.

Venus overcame a 4-1 deficit in the third to pull to 4-4, then dropped serve again and trailed 5-4.

Hingis was two points away from winning, but was unable to serve out the match, with Venus rifling two tremendous ground stroke winners.

In the final game of the match, Hingis fell behind 0-30. On the next point, Williams retrieved everything Hingis fired at her.

Forehand, backhand, from one corner to the other, Williams chased down everything. She switched momentum at the first opportunity, sending Hingis to a corner with a good volley. Hingis sent a lob that sailed long and Williams had three match points.

She needed only one, with Hingis sailing a backhand long.

"I was down, I didn't want to lose," Williams said. "I wanted to come out the victor for once."

Hingis admitted she has practiced little since the U.S. Open.

"If you lose a match like I did today, you have a little to think about what's going to happen in the future if you want to stay in the top," she said.

Venus finished with 18 aces, but also had 12 double-faults. Hingis had no aces, but only one double-fault and 23 unforced errors compared to 56 for Venus. The winner is now 4-8 against Hingis.

In men's quarterfinals, Greg Rusedski fired 19 aces in ousting Australian Open champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov 7-5, 7-6 (8-6). Kafelnikov, ranked No. 2 in the world, came here from Australia where he lost both singles matches in Russia's Davis Cup defeat to Australia.

Kafelnikov, who had a bye into the quarterfinals, could console himself with the $300,000 he took home. That included a $125,000 bonus for his Australian title. Rusedski picked up $325,000.

Rusedski's semifinal opponent Saturday will be Andrei Medvedev, the French Open finalist who beat Richard Krajicek 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. In the other semifinal, Tommy Haas plays Thomas Enqvist.

The tournament invites 12 men and eight women with the best records in the four Grand Slam events of the year. Neither of the two Grand Slam tournament men's champions present here, Andre Agassi and Kafelnikov, made it to the semifinals.

But for the first time since the 1992 Wimbledon a women's semifinal featured the top four players. Hingis is No. 1, Davenport is No. 2, Venus Williams is No. 3 and her sister is No. 4.

 

Related information
Stories
Agassi upset at Grand Slam Cup; Venus rolls
Stats
Grand Slam Results
Multimedia
Visit Multimedia Central for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.