Davenport, Williams Head to U.S. Open Final
N E W Y O R K, Sept. 8 -- Third seed Venus Williams wona classic three-set war with top seed Martina Hingis today to advance to the final of the U.S. Open tennis championships.
Williams battled back from 3-5 down in the third set,pulling out a spectacular 4-6 6-3 7-5 semifinal triumph toextend her winning streak to 25 matches and keep 1997 championHingis from reaching her fourth consecutive U.S. Open final.
The Wimbledon champion will face Australian Open championLindsay Davenport in an all-American final on Saturday afterthe second seed downed unseeded Russian teenager ElenaDementieva 6-2 7-6 (7-5) in the day’s first semifinal.
The Saturday program will also feature the men’s semifinalsin which four-time champion Pete Sampras takes on ninth-seededAustralian Lleyton Hewitt after sixth-seeded Russian MaratSafin faces 1999 runner-up Todd Martin.
Hingis Still Beating Williams 9-7
Coming into today’s epic clash, Hingis led Williams 9-6 incareer meetings and 3-1 in Grand Slam encounters, including the1997 U.S. Open final when Williams made it all the way to thechampionship match in her Open debut.
But Williams won their last major encounter in this year’sWimbledon quarter-finals and today improved to 6-2 in matcheswith Hingis that have gone to three sets in what has become thegreatest rivalry in women’s tennis since Chris Evert andMartina Navratilova.
“I just wanted it and I had this winning streak going andshe’s already won the U.S. Open and I felt maybe it’s my turn,”said a beaming Williams.
Saturday’s championship match marks the first all-AmericanU.S. Open women’s final since Navratilova beat Evert in 1984,and the first between American-born women since Tracy Austinbeat six-time champion Evert in the 1979 final.
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