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Not the same Williams sisters fail to repeat Olympic triumph in Sydney
Updated: Tuesday January 09, 2001 11:28 AM
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- The Williams sisters blew four match points Tuesday before losing a seesawing Adidas International doubles thriller to Martina Hingis and Monica Seles in a third-set tiebreaker. Top-ranked Hingis and No. 4 Seles, combining for the first time, ended a 22-match winning stretch for Venus and Serena Williams that started at the 1999 U.S. Open and also included Wimbledon and Olympic doubles crowns. The No. 3-ranked Venus, who won Olympic gold plus U.S. Open and Wimbledon singles titles in 2000 and also partnered Serena to doubles wins at Wimbledon and the Sydney Olympics, had not played since October. She said she just couldn't relive the Olympic spirit she'd thrived on last September at the same venue, the Sydney International Tennis Center. A crashing end to the winning stretch was no big deal for either of the Williams sisters, the loss accepted with tandem shrugs of the shoulders and a casual: "Oh yeah, well!" "I was a little bit shaky sometimes," Venus said. "It's been tough coming back here because the Olympics, it was so exciting." Being back on the Sydney court "was tough at first -- with this just not being the Olympics. But we got through that and we accepted it." Venus said she'd learned from the first-round loss, adding that the timing of the defeat was better than it would have been at next week's Australian Open. "Sometimes it's better to lose," said Venus, who was given a wild card for the doubles draw after agreeing to play at the last minute. "We're confident we'll do a lot better," next week. Hingis and Seles came out on top in the first set after an exchange of service breaks. The Williams sisters leveled in the second, breaking Hingis to go 5-3 before Serena held serve to take the set. The third set swung wildly, with the Hingis-Seles combination grabbing a 5-3 lead and Seles serving for the match before the Williams regained control with successive breaks of serve. Venus had her first match point at 6-5 and 40-30 before Hingis drilled a cross-court forehand for deuce. Venus had the advantage point a further three times but couldn't close out. Hingis-Seles equalized with their second break point to force the tiebreaker and, after exchanging service breaks until 2-2, won five consecutive points to clinch an upset win. Hingis, who split with long-time doubles partner Anna Kournikova after defending their Chase Championship title last November, said the match was worthy of a final. "Four players like that together on the court, we have all won Grand Slams, are all in the top 10 ... it was so exciting," she said. "Monica and I had nothing to lose because we never played together before, so we were just going out to do our best and have fun. To take away a win in a match like that is great." Serena, the 1999 U.S. Open champion, said it was good for she and Venus to get the loss out of their systems. She vowed to get the winning sequence started again immediately. "We're going to start again in Melbourne -- we should be back to six or seven -- and by the French [Open], we should be back on a roll," she said. Serena, the world No. 6, remains in the singles draw, advancing to a second-round match against compatriot Brie Rippner and facing a likely quarterfinal against Hingis. Venus, who opted against playing singles at the Adidas tournament, will remain in Sydney as a practice partner for her younger sister in the leadup to the Australian Open.
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