MELBOURNE, Australia -- It was a mess of a match, sloppier
than a shanked second serve, and for 90 minutes Venus Williams
struggled to make her shots go where she wanted.
Then came the longest point of the night, a magnificent
26-stroke rally that ended with Amelie Mauresmo cracking a backhand
winner. The Frenchwoman threw a roundhouse punch at the air in
celebration as the crowd unleashed its biggest roar of the night.
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The Williams sisters could potentially meet in the semifinals. Serena Williams faces the biggest test against No. 1 seed Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals. Venus Williams faces Amanda Coetzer in her quarterfinal.
The sisters also are doing well in doubles having reached the quarterfinals where they will face Anna Kournikova and Barbara Schett. Should they win, they'll go on to meet Kournikova's former doubles partner Hingis and her new partner, Monica Seles, in the semifinals. |
And Williams decided she'd had enough.
With an astounding show of force on three successive points,
including a pair of aces, Williams emphatically closed out a 6-2,
3-6, 6-3 victory Monday to reach the quarterfinals of the
Australian Open.
"At the end, I really just went for the gold and got lucky,"
she said.
Williams needs three more victories for her third consecutive
Grand Slam title, and she's one win from a potential semifinal showdown
against sister Serena. The younger Williams, seeded sixth, advanced
by beating Daja Bedanova 6-2, 6-2.
Serena's opponent Wednesday will be top-seeded Martina Hingis.
Venus, seeded third, will play No. 10 Amanda Coetzer. Defending
champion Lindsay Davenport looms as the most likely finalist in the
other half of the draw.
"I think Martina is playing the most consistently at this
point," Venus said. "When people get to big matches, they tend to
play a lot better or a lot worse. Hopefully Serena and I always
play a lot better."
The four top-seeded men will be missing from the quarterfinals _
only the third time that's happened in a Grand Slam tournament
since the Open era began in 1968. No. 4 Magnus Norman was
eliminated in the final fourth-round match by No. 16 Sebastien
Grosjean 7-6 (7), 6-3, 0-6, 6-4. No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten, No. 2 Marat
Safin and No. 3 Pete Sampras lost earlier.
In a remarkable sporting gesture, Norman conceded the final
point. Grosjean hit an apparent ace for the victory, but as the
crowd roared and the players met at the net to shake hands, chair
umpire Mike Morrissey stepped between them to explain he had ruled
the serve a let because it clipped the net.
Norman declined to replay the point.
"There was no let," he said. "Obviously he didn't hear any
let, and I didn't hear any let. ... When I go home, I want to feel
good about myself. That's the reason I gave it to him."
Other men's winners Monday were No. 5 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, No. 15
Arnaud Clement and unseeded Carlos Moya.
The day's best and worst tennis was provided by Venus Williams
and the 13th-seeded Mauresmo, a finalist at Melbourne Park two
years ago.
Mauresmo is one of the few players who can match Williams'
power, and for much of the night both players seemed intent on
trying to knock down the net with their groundstrokes. It didn't
budge, and the errors steadily mounted: 43 by Williams, 44 by
Mauresmo.
"I was a little bit up and down," Williams said. "She was a
little bit, too. I guess we weren't really sure about what we were
going to do."
But Williams had the finishing touch.
Serving two points from victory at 5-3, deuce, she settled into
a tense baseline rally against Mauresmo. With the rhythm of a
metronome, they traded deep, hard strokes until Mauresmo finally
stepped into the court and hit a shot down the line past a lunging
Williams.
"When you've had a very frustrating match," Mauresmo said,
"it really gives you a kick to let that kind of a shot rip."
It left her just one point from getting back on serve. Instead,
Williams responded with four consecutive powerhouse shots to close
out the match.
"Maybe she was a little bit angry about the backhand I hit,"
Mauresmo mused.
"I know how to deal with certain situations," Williams
explained.
First she hit a big serve and took advantage of Mauresmo's weak
return by clubbing a forehand winner for deuce. Then Williams
belted a 116-mph ace, by far the fastest serve to that point, and
punctuated her effort with an extended guttural grunt that had fans
laughing as they cheered.
"I really thought it was actually time for an ace," she said.
"I had hit so many out that it was bound to go in."
Next, match point: Williams socked another ace, this one 114
mph. She punched the sky with her fist, grinned at her family in
the crowd and hopped to the net on one foot. Even Mauresmo had to
smile.
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