Williams, Seles Win, to Play in Tennis Semis

S Y D N E Y, Australia, Sept. 24, 2000 -- Facing the last player to beat her,Venus Williams extended her winning streak to 30 matches today byedging Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario to reach the semifinals at theOlympics.

Williams lost her first five service games, double-faulted 13times and still won, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

The second-seeded Williams advanced to an all-American semiMonday against third-seeded Monica Seles, who beat Dominique VanRoost of Belgium 6-0, 6-2.

Williams lost to Sanchez-Vicario at the French Open, then beganher winning streak, which includes titles at Wimbledon and the U.S.Open.

“You always expect her to play tough, especially now that it’sthe Olympics,” Williams said. “I haven’t played anyone who hasn’tgiven 200 percent, so today I had to give 300.”

Serving Troubles Keep Match Close

Windy conditions made serving difficult for both players, butWilliams had more trouble early, double-faulting three times onbreak point in the opening set.

She served better after that and became more consistent with hergroundstrokes, running Sanchez-Vicario off the court and closingout points at the net.

“She tests you as far as your patience and even sometimes onthe confidence of your shots, because she gets so many ballsback,” Williams said. “It’s not that you’re necessarily doingsomething wrong; it’s just that she’s doing some good things. Soyou just have to keep doing your best when you play against her.”

A swinging volley put Williams ahead 1-0 in the third set — herfirst lead of the match. That prompted the first chant of “USA!USA!” Sanchez-Vicario had her own problems serving,double-faulting on break point to fall behind 4-1 in each of thelast two sets.

Corretja, Tillstrom Lose

The points got wilder down the stretch. As Sanchez-Vicarioserved at 2-4 in the final set, the racket flew out of her hand onthe follow-through and landed 15 feet away. The Spaniard watchedhelplessly as Williams hit a return for an uncontested winner.

Sanchez-Vicario, a four-time Olympic medalist, fell short in abid for her first gold. She lost earlier in doubles.

Still alive is unseeded Jelena Dokic, the only Australianremaining in singles. She beat No. 7 Amanda Coetzer of South Africa6-1, 1-6, 6-1.

In men’s third-round play, No. 6 Alex Corretja of Spain lost toTommy Haas of Germany 7-6 (7), 6-3. Corretja was the last seededplayer in his half of the draw. Haas’ opponent in the quarterfinalswill be Max Mirnyi of Belarus, who beat Mariano Zabaleta ofArgentina 7-6 (4), 6-2.

Roger Federer of Switzerland beat Mikael Tillstrom of Sweden6-1, 6-2.

Seles Easily Topples Van Roost

Seles had little trouble against No. 8 Van Roost and has lostonly 10 games in four matches. She was denied a medal four yearsago in Atlanta when she lost a 2½-hour quarterfinal match to JanaNovotna.

“It was one of the toughest loses of my career,” she said.“Definitely I thought about it this morning when I woke up.”

Van Roost became dispirited after a 14-point second game, whenshe hit a series of errant groundstrokes and double-faulted twiceto lose serve. She double-faulted on break point for the secondtime to fall behind 4-0, then shanked an overhead on set point. Inthe second set she had six break-point chances but lost them all.

“It was a fantastic score, but I don’t feel I played thatwell,” Seles said. “I tried not to give her any free points, andI was successful at that.”

Seles hit with her typical power and consistency from bothsides. When Van Roost managed to stay in a long rally, Seles almostalways won it.

“In the first set she didn’t make one mistake,” Van Roostsaid. “In the second set she got a little tired, but the first setwas too good for me.”