Venus Williams Through to Open Semis

N E W  Y O R K, Sept. 6 -- Venus Williams hit bottom, so to speak, when shedouble-faulted three times in one game, whiffed at an overhead,stomped to her chair, missed the seat and plopped to the court.

The sheer indignity of it all only compounded the frustrationshe felt throughout her match Tuesday against a relentlesslynet-charging Nathalie Tauziat.

Yet even on her worst day, Williams still was good enough towin, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1, and extend her tour-leading streak to 24matches as she moved into the semifinals of the U.S. Open.

Will Face Hingis

Williams, seeded No. 3, will have to play far better to beat No.1 Martina Hingis on Thursday.

Hingis knocked out Williams in the semis last year before losingto Serena Williams in the title match, and has been the mostdominant woman in the tournament so far this year. She reached thesemis Tuesday night with a 6-0, 7-5 rout of No. 6 Monica Seles, andhas yielded only 15 games in five matches without dropping a set.

“At Wimbledon, I lost to Venus, so I’d like to turn itaround,” Hingis said. “She’s obviously very confident going intothese matches. Even if she’s not playing at her best, she stillwins them. Nobody’s going to ask you afterward how you play. You’vejust got to win the tournament.”

Williams had not lost a set in the tournament, and had droppedonly three sets in her winning streak. But after a listless firstset against Tauziat, and a sleepwalking second set filled withunforced errors, she powered up her serve and groundstrokes a notchto wear down the small but spirited Frenchwoman.

‘A Tag-Team Wrestling Match’

“You walk off against her and you don’t have the impression youplayed a tennis match,” Tauziat said. “You feel as if you’ve beenin a tag-team wrestling match or a boxing bout, but not tennis. Shejust bangs away. It’s in, it’s out, it’s a double-fault, it’s anace. You just never know what’s coming.”