Venus Extends Winning Streak

N E W   Y O R K, Sept. 2, 2000 -- It’s been a bumpy trip to the fourth round ofthe U.S. Open for Venus Williams. But she’s there.

Williams ran her match winning streak to a season-high 22 whenshe sputtered but didn’t stop until she had walked off the ArthurAshe Stadium court with a 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory over MeghannShaughnessy.

“I guess now I’ve been winning quite a few,” said Williams,who began her run of success by capturing Wimbledon in July. “Iguess I have the longest streak this year. That’s nice.”

Friday night’s victory over the unheralded right-hander fromScottsdale, Ariz., put Williams into the round of 16, where shewill face unseeded Magui Serna of Spain. Serna upset 13th-seededAmanda Coetzer 7-5, 7-6 (3).

“I prefer to play a higher-ranked player, but you can’t pickthe draw,” Williams said.

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Also winning third-round women’s matches Friday were No. 1Martina Hingis, No. 6 Monica Seles, No. 8 Nathalie Tauziat, No. 9Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, No. 11 Sandrine Testud and No. 15 JenniferCapriati.

No. 3 Magnus Norman—the highest-seeded player remaining in themen’s draw—won his second-round match Friday, as did No. 6 MaratSafin, No. 8 Alex Corretja, No. 10 Cedric Pioline, No. 12 JuanCarlos Ferrero and No. 14 Nicolas Kiefer.

Unlike Thursday, when defending champion and top-seeded AndreAgassi was ousted, no seeded players were eliminated Friday on thehardcourts of the National Tennis Center.

The night’s final match, between No. 15 Mark Philippoussis andJan-Michael Gambill, was postponed by rain and rescheduled for today.

French Open champion Mary Pierce was set to open today’s playagainst Lisa Raymond. Second up in Arthur Ashe Stadium was No. 4Pete Sampras against Argentine’s Agustin Calleri, followed by No.12 Anna Kournikova against Belgium’s Justine Henin.

It didn’t take long for Williams to realize she had a toughopponent in Shaughnessy. Just three games, actually—all won byShaughnessy.

“I know that, playing well, I can stay with players like her,”Shaughnessy said. “It’s just a matter of really believing that Ican win and that I will win.”

Underdog Served for Set

Once Williams began winning games, the 21-year-old Shaughnessy,ranked 48th in the world, ran her lead to 5-3 and served for theset.

“She was playing very well, living off my power,” Williamssaid of Shaughnessy.

But Williams began to find the court with her groundstrokes andwon three straight games to take a 6-5 lead. When Shaughnessy heldto force the tiebreaker, Williams kept her opponent’s hopes alivewith consecutive double faults.

Hope faded fast after that.

“I was little confused on my serve in the first set,” Williamssaid. “I never felt I would lose the set. In the end, the win isin my record.”

The victory kept Williams on track for what many anticipatewould be a semifinal showdown with Hingis, who had far less troubleadvancing Friday.

“I don’t see this as a wake up call,” said Williams, who hadeight double faults and 27 unforced errors. “I felt a little tightbecause I was thinking, ‘What am I going to do to turn thisaround?“‘

Eventually, she did and felt good about the effort.

“By the time I got to the second set, I felt it was pretty muchat an end,” she said.

In the time it takes some weekend hackers to stretch and warmup, Hingis zipped through the fastest match of the U.S. Open andgave warning to the Williams sisters that she’s ready to take themon.

‘This is My Chance’

Hingis, who hasn’t won a major title since the 1999 AustralianOpen, is off to her best start in Grand Slam play since then withthree straight-sets victories in which she’s yielded a total ofonly seven games.

“It will be great, definitely, to win a Grand Slam right here.This is my chance,” Hingis said after a 37-minute, 6-1, 6-0 defeatof Tathiana Garbin.

“I was taking her very seriously today, even though I won thelast time so easily,” said Hingis, who beat Garbin by the samescore in the same round at the French Open in May. “I knew she wasinjured there a little bit. She had so far pretty easy wins here inthe first couple rounds. I had to play well. That’s what I did.”