Venus Williams

NEW YORK -- When No. 1 Martina Hingis walked on court for her semifinal match, she already knew she'd have to beat the Williams sisters to win the U.S. Open.Yesterday, in an incredible match that required mental fortitude, physical stamina and pure heart, Hingis and No. 3 Venus Williams riveted 20,009 fans to their seats in Arthur Ashe Stadium as they waged woman-to-woman combat.Finally, after 2 hours and 1 minute, Hingis was the last one standing, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.Now she will face the other half of the sister combo, No. 7 seed Serena Williams, in today's final.

NEW YORK -- No. 1 Martina Hingis had great hits, mis-hits and desperation hits, but they all produced the same result, landing safely in play and devastating Monica Seles.In a quarterfinal match that has been anticipated since the U.S. Open began 10 days ago, Hingis had little trouble eliminating Seles, the No. 6 seed, 6-4, 6-4, in 1 hour and 12 minutes last night.It was Hingis' first win over Seles after two previous losses, and put her in her ninth consecutive Grand Slam semifinal."I don't think Martina is given enough credit for how very creative she is," said Seles.

WIMBLEDON, England -- Maybe in the future, Serena Williams will complete a Wimbledon match in which she's losing and hurting. Maybe she'll remember to shake her opponent's hand and acknowledge a crowd that had gathered under threatening skies to see her perform.But Williams is 16 and still learning the finer details of professional tennis etiquette.In yesterday's women's third round at Wimbledon, Williams injured her left calf muscle early in a match against Virginia Ruano Pascual and retired after falling behind 5-7, 1-4.So, the Williams sisters won't be meeting in the round of 16, even though Venus Williams did her part by defeating Chanda Rubin, 6-3, 6-4."

WIMBLEDON, England -- So, Venus Williams, do you have any idea which of your serves traveled at 125 mph to set a world women's record yesterday?"No," she said. "I wasn't going for any big ones."Well, that's an uncomfortable thought for the opposition at Wimbledon, where Williams continued her climb with her booming serves and blistering ground strokes in a 6-1, 6-2 second-round victory over Barbara Schett.Williams' record serve was a few clicks faster than Brenda Schultz-McCarthy's 123 mph special at Wimbledon in 1997.

WIMBLEDON, England -- For Jana Novotna, the losses hang out there, unmentioned but unforgettable.Nobody brings up Wimbledon 1993, when Novotna handed the title to Steffi Graf and wept on the Duchess of Kent's shoulder. And Wimbledon 1997 is simply a distant memory, when Novotna faded in the third set and let a smiling kid named Martina Hingis steal the title.This year, Novotna is trying to build a new resume, and trying to write some tennis history.With yesterday's 6-2, 6-3 victory over Irina Spirlea, Novotna advanced to today's most enticing quarterfinal match of the tournament, a meeting with No. 7 Venus Williams.

WIMBLEDON, England -- It sure was tough to be a women's pro tennis player five years ago. The sport was stale, the tournament promoters were panicky and the media outlets were hostile."

PARIS -- At first, Venus Williams did not want to know the identity of her first-round opponent at the French Open after yesterday's draw."No, I don't want to know who I'm playing," Williams said.Her main concern was the placement of herself and her younger sister, Serena. For once, the sisters were placed in opposite halves of the draw, a relief after playing each other early at the Australian Open and Italian Open.The only way they could meet at the French Open is in the final.For the record, Venus Williams, seeded eighth, will open against Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.

NEW YORK -- Venus Williams has been expected for sometime. Last night, she may have taken a mini-step toward arriving. Down a break in the first set, she rallied for a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 8 seed Anke Huber."

WIMBLEDON, England -- For now, Venus Williams is simply a hope, a myth, a tennis player of great promise waiting to make her debut at wet, windy Wimbledon.The 17-year-old hasn't won a tournament in six years but has lost to a bunch of good players. She neither practices nor plays full-time, but she does have a $2 million shoe contract.In tennis, she is famous for being famous."Do I deserve the attention?" she said yesterday after her first-round match was postponed by rain. "Obviously, I think right now I'm playing some pretty good tennis.

VILLANOVA, Pa. -- Richard Williams is sitting in the stands at Villanova University's Pavilion about to watch his daughter Venus compete in what will turn out to be her last match of the season.Richard Williams is a proud parent. He has seen his daughter step into the limelight of women's tennis this fall. At a time when tennis was in need of a Tiger Woods-type boost, it was Venus, her hair braided with red, white and blue beads, who clattered and danced into the final of the U.S. Open and gave the sport an injection of vitality.

Williamses at Wimbledon 7 a.m. [ESPN2], noon [chs. 11, 4] Serena Williams will take on Elena Dementieva in the semifinals in the 7 a.m. window, and Venus Williams (left) will face top-ranked Dinara Safina in the noon window. It could be an all-Williams final or an all-Russian final - or neither.

As a promising 12-year-old, Serena Williams tagged along with her big sister Venus for Pam Shriver's annual charity tennis tournament in Baltimore in 1993 to play doubles against a pair of brothers, Cal and Bill Ripken. At the time, the buzz about the Williams sisters was barely noticeable except for a piece on 60 Minutes about the tennis phenoms from Compton, Calif., and their controversial father, Richard Williams. "They were kind of playing some charity exhibition events; they weren't playing in tournaments," Shriver recalled last week.

BEIJING - The world of tennis, as we know it, spun off its axis a bit here Thursday night in front of thousands of enthusiastic Chinese spectators. This is the Beijing Olympics, not Wimbledon or another Grand Slam tournament. No ivy-covered walls here, no red clay or echoes of Jimmy Connors under the lights in the Big Apple. The stadium here is a big, circular chunk of concrete. It has all the charm of a freeway ramp. Yet it might long be remembered for this night, when what was predictable and comfortable in the sport came unhinged.

On the tennis court, Venus and Serena Williams attack their opponents with an unmatchable zeal, but each sister brings to the game a style all her own. Off the court, the championship-dominating sisters share a similar zeal for fashion. And just like during tennis matches, the two express their flair for fashion in different ways. Venus Williams She will be signing autographs today at noon at Steve & Barry's in Eastpoint Mall.

WIMBLEDON, England -- Serena Williams bunny-hopped three times on her one and a half legs, set herself inside the baseline to await the final serve, then took the ball on the rise and jammed it back cross-court hard enough to handcuff Daniela Hantuchova yesterday and deliver the decisive blow to the tall, bewildered Slovakian. Williams might have been as distraught as everyone else here about the incessant rain that has pelted Wimbledon for most of the first eight days, but she isn't likely to complain about it again.

Good morning --Venus Williams --For the second week at the French Open, you're the star of An American in Paris.

NEW YORK -- She was the accidental champion a year ago. Yesterday, on a historic opening day at the U.S. Open, Svetlana Kuznetsova became the incidental champion. For the first time in the 118-year history of the women's tournament here, a defending champ was knocked out in the first round, and the only plausible reason was Kuznetsova's own lack of emotional strength. "Of course I'm disappointed to lose that match. But things like this happen. It's happened to many top players. It happened to me," she said somberly after going down ignominiously to obscure fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova, 6-3, 6-2. The 97th-ranked Bychkova, who was only 3-5 in a number of WTA Tour matches this season, did little more in this stunning upset than feed safe, deep balls to the powerfully built champ.

WIMBLEDON, England - The regal, manicured lawn of Wimbledon's Centre Court is a fitting stage for the most storied tournament in tennis, no doubt. But it is the sounds from the stands, like those heard yesterday, that indicate the quality of the venue is being matched by the quality of play. So it was yesterday. The tennis tournament richer in history than any other held a final that made it richer still, ending in an epic victory for Venus Williams over Lindsay Davenport, two once-dominant players who went toe-to-toe in their quest to be Wimbledon champion one more time.

WIMBLEDON, England - What had the potential to be an electrifying day of tennis at Wimbledon came up a few shots shy of truly memorable yesterday. Not that Lindsay Davenport and Lleyton Hewitt of Australia didn't try their best, albeit unintentionally, to push things in that direction in the fourth round. Third-seeded Hewitt, unusually, squandered two match points in the third set and needed another set to finish off Taylor Dent, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-3. Top-seeded Davenport, who blew a match point in the second set by pushing a backhand just long, lost the second-set tiebreaker but rallied to defeat No. 15 Kim Clijsters of Belgium, 6-3, 6-7 (4)

PARIS - After a few more dismal showings in Grand Slam events - well, maybe even now - the former No. 1 women's tennis player will face this question: Didn't you used to be Venus Williams? Williams hasn't been close to her prime in years, and her loss yesterday in the third round of the French Open to a 15-year-old ranked barely inside the Top 100 had her looking the picture of abject failure. Williams hit seven double faults and committed 52 unforced errors in losing, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, to Sesil Karatantcheva of Bulgaria, who dropped to the court after match point and later threw kisses and bowed to the crowd.