Williams Sisters to Meet at Wimbledon Semifinals
W I M B L E D O N, England, July 4, 2000 -- Venus and Serena Williams won Fourthof July matches today to set up a historic all-sister semifinalat Wimbledon.
The eighth-seeded Serena led off by beating Lisa Raymond 6-2,6-0 in only 41 minutes on Court 1.
Serena then raced over to Centre Court to watch the fifth-seededVenus record a pulsating 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win over top-seeded MartinaHingis in just over two hours.
The sisters have played each other four times, with Venusleading 3-1. Thursday’s match will be the first Grand Slamsemifinal between sisters.
In a women’s quarterfinal between two unseeded players,17-year-old Jelena Dokic beat Magui Serna of Spain 6-3, 6-2 in 66minutes. Last year, Dokic ousted Hingis in the first round andreached the quarterfinals.
Dokic will meet the winner of the match between defendingchampion Lindsay Davenport, the seeded No. 2, and No. 6 MonicaSeles.
Finesse vs. Ferocious Hitting
While Serena Williams-Raymond was a one-sided mismatch, theVenus Williams-Hingis showdown produced spectacular tennis fromboth players.
The match featured the all-court finesse of Hingis against theferocious hitting of Williams. While many points ended quickly withflashing winners, other rallies lasted more than 20 shots.
The match ended with Williams pounding an ace, her eighth of theday. She let out a shriek, bounded to the net and leaped high intothe air with her left arm extended.
Williams went to the side of the court to grasp a large Americanflag unfurled by fans near the front row.
With a towel draped over her shoulders, she mouthed“Unbelievable” as she soaked in a standing ovation.
Proud Papa
In the guest box, Serena beamed and clenched her fists, whilefather Richard Williams doffed his cap and bounced up and down.
“It feels phenomenal,” Richard Williams said.
The elder Williams said he would bet 50 pounds — $75 — on eachof his daughters, but would not watch Thursday’s match. He plans toattend a funeral instead.
“I don’t want to watch Venus beat up on Serena or Serena beatup on Venus,” he said.
Both players looked tired in the third set and showed signs ofpossible cramping, yet the quality of tennis remained superb.
Venus Williams, always the aggressor, had 50 winners in the match.Hingis, the counter-puncher, had 19.
Williams repeatedly stretched her legs in the final set. At onepoint during a service game, she went to her courtside chair for adrink, drawing a code violation for delay of play.
Williams took control of the first set when she broke Hingis atlove for a 5-3 lead. Venus closed the set in the next game withher fourth ace.
The second set turned in the seventh game with the score 3-3.Putting constant pressure on Hingis’ serve, Williams hit ascreaming backhand on her third break point. The ball seemed tonick the sideline, kicking up a puff of chalk. But the shot wascalled out, and Williams stared briefly in disbelief.
Hingis went on to hold. Instead of leading 4-3 with a break,Williams found herself 3-4 down.
Hingis broke for 5-3 but had trouble closing the set. Williamssaved two set points and broke back for 5-4. The American saved twomore set points in the next game and had a point for 5-5, butHingis responded with a backhand drop volley.
Hingis finally converted on her fifth set point when Williamstook a wild swing on a forehand half-volley, shanking the ball waywide.
From 2-2 in the second set, there were service breaks in 10 ofthe next 11 games, including eight straight at one stage.
Williams pulled ahead in the final set when she held serve inthe sixth game. After taking her break for a drink at 40-15, shesmashed a short overhead to hold for 4-2.
The two held serve the rest of the way, with Williams winning atlove in the final game.
2nd Grand Slam Semifinal for Serena
Serena Williams had no trouble in recording her fifthconsecutive straight-set victory. She has dropped only 13 games inthe tournament.
The win sent the 18-year-old Serena into her second Grand Slamsemifinal. She won the U.S. Open last year.
Serena Williams overwhelmed Raymond, serving nine aces andhitting a series of winners off her service return. Raymondpersisted with a serve-and-volley tactic, only for Williams torespond with bullet returns that left the crowd gasping in awe.
After closing the match with a short backhand winner, Serenawaved and blew kisses to the crowd, did a pirouette and shouted,“Yeah!”
Richard Williams started at Centre Court to watch Venus. When heshuttled to Court 1 for Serena’s match, the score was already 3-0in the second. He stayed for two games, then headed back to Centre.
“Serena was running through that like a wild rabbit,” he said.
The men’s quarterfinals are scheduled for Wednesday.
Top-seeded Pete Sampras, chasing his seventh Wimbledon title andrecord 13th Grand Slam championship, goes against unseeded AmericanJan-Michael Gambill; No. 2 Andre Agassi faces No. 10 MarkPhilippoussis; No. 12 Patrick Rafter plays unseeded Alexander Popp;and Byron Black is pitted against qualifier Vladimir Voltchkov.