Hingis Ousts Serena Williams at Aussie Open

M E L B O U R N E, Australia, Jan. 24, 2001 -- Serena Williams couldn’t beat doggedretriever Martina Hingis despite a 4-1 lead in the final set. Nowit is sister Venus’ turn to try.

Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Olympic champion Venus almost didn't doher part to reach the Australian Open semifinals. She sprayed 56errors before surviving a late service break and beating No. 10Amanda Coetzer 2-6, 6-1, 8-6 today.

Then the top-seeded Hingis spoiled a sibling semifinal byrallying for a 6-2, 3-6, 8-6 victory over Serena, who had 54 errors— 29 of them in the final set.

"I was able to keep going and going until she would miss,"Hingis said.

Before going out to play doubles an hour after her singles,Serena sent word that she had not eaten anything but toast for twodays because of food poisoning. She and Venus then beat AnnaKournikova and Barbara Schett 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 to advance to asemifinal against Hingis and Monica Seles. In an Australian Openwarmup tournament, Hingis and Seles beat the Williams sisters.

Serena said later that "some pink stuff" the trainer gave herafter her first set of singles helped her recover by the third setfrom a dizzy feeling and to get her feet moving. After the doubles,she added, "I could play another match."

Clement Downs Kafelnikov

The men's side will have the first all-French semifinal at aGrand Slam tournament since 1983, between No. 15 Arnaud Clement andNo. 16 Sebastien Grosjean. The winner becomes the first Frenchfinalist in an Australian Open since 1928.

Clement capitalized on 79 errors by No. 5 Yevgeny Kafelnikov fora 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3) victory, and celebrated by throwinghis shirt and shoes into the crowd of nearly 15,000.

Kafelnikov hit an overhead into the net on match point, ending astellar run Down Under in which he won the Australian Open in 1999,was runner-up last year and won the Olympic gold medal.

"I can't believe it," said Clement, who has lost only one setin five matches here.

In his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, Grosjean, conqueror offourth-seeded Magnus Norman, ended the run of former No. 1 CarlosMoya with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 victory. Moya, coming back from injury,had beaten another former No. 1, Marcelo Rios, and seventh-seededLleyton Hewitt.

Defending champion Andre Agassi already is in the semifinals,facing two-time U.S. Open champion Patrick Rafter on Thursdaynight.

Serena Plays Despite Food Poisoning

In three events, Hingis has defeated one Williams sister andthen lost to the other, most recently at the 1999 U.S. Open, whenSerena beat her in the final.

Two players have beaten both in the same tournament, both inSydney. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario did it in 1998 and Seles in 1999.

Hingis needs to beat Venus just to get to the final of what sheused to consider her very own tournament. She won it three times ina row before losing to Lindsay Davenport in last year's final.Davenport plays No. 12 Jennifer Capriati on Thursday for the otherspot in the championship match.

The trainer brought medicine for Serena after the first setagainst Hingis. She went on to win the second, thanks to asecond-serve ace for set point and a Hingis forehand into the net.

In the final set, after Hingis had closed from 1-4 to 4-all,Serena broke for 5-4. She pumped her fist after a backhand down theline put her two points from winning.

That was as close as she got. Hingis won the game with twobackhand crosscourts that caught Serena off-balance.

Hingis Gets Fit, Plays Stronger

Serena held serve for 6-all, and two games later played abrilliant rally to erase Hingis' first match point. She sent Hingisrunning back with a lunging lob and then dived to put in a backhandangled drop volley.

But she netted a forehand on the next point, and Hingis finishedthe 2-hour, 19-minute match with an angled overhead.

Hingis said she didn't notice any indications of Williams'illness, but added: "You have to watch what you eat."

Hingis considered her first set the best tennis of her career.

"It was a great match from both of us. At the end, especially,it was whoever wanted it more and who was more lucky," she said.

Thanks to playing and fitness improvements, "you can't count onjust overpowering me anymore," said the 20-year-old Swiss player,who is seeking her sixth Grand Slam tournament title. She has a 9-7record against Venus, but lost their last two meetings.

Serena said Hingis won "with a lot of heart."

Venus Drops Eight Points, Bounces Back

Against the 5-foot-2 Coetzer, Venus, who is 6-1, lost the firsteight points and first four games, prompting one fan to shout,"Let's go, Venus, wake up!"

She did, racing through the second set.

In the last set, however, errors crept back in — 27 in the 14games.

Coetzer broke for 5-3, but then lost the next game on errors.

Venus returned that favor when serving for the match at 6-5,broke yet again for 7-6 and finished in 1:46 with an overhead.

"It's just not liking to lose," Venus said. "Today was notone of my better days. … I had no more room for error."

She said Coetzer didn't do anything wrong, and "there weretimes when I really just wouldn't move forward. It was terrible. Irealized that I couldn't win the match like that."

Serena said later, "I had a long talk with [Venus] in thelocker room. She's promised not to do a game like that anymore.She'll definitely be in better form tomorrow."

Rain delayed the start of the match by half an hour while thecourt was dried and the roof closed on Rod Laver Arena.

The change "affected my hairstyle," Venus said, because shewas expecting sun and had pulled her hair back to put on a visor.

"If I had known they were going to close the roof, I would haveworn a ponytail," she added.