Venus Williams

WIMBLEDON, England - The Russians are going. The Russians are going. There were a record five of them in the women's round of 16 at the close of business Saturday evening. By late afternoon yesterday, only Svetlana Kuznetsova, who is a lot better known as Martina Navratilova's doubles partner, was carrying the flag into the Wimbledon quarterfinals. One by one, they went down, and most of them quickly to the galaxy of WTA Tour stars who are once again dominating a Grand Slam. Top seed Serena Williams knocked out Elena Dementieva, 6-2, 6-2. Jennifer Capriati dunked Anastasia Myskina, 6-2, 6-3. Kuznetsova, 17, erased her 16-year-old compatriot Maria Sharapova, 6-1, 2-6, 7-5. And Venus Williams, in a most impressive piece of destruction, took her revenge on Vera Zvonareva, 6-1, 6-3. When the women get down to the final four today, Kuznetsova is expected to join the rest of the Russians on the sidelines.

Venus Williams was beaten in the fourth round of the French Open by Nadia Petrova 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday, while Roger Federer easily advanced into the quarterfinals on the men's side. Williams came into the tournament seeded No. 2 behind her sister Serena . "I'm obviously disappointed," Williams said. "I feel like I had a day where I wanted to hit the ball cross-court and it went down the line. It just wasn't a good day." Petrova has been a nemesis for the Williams family lately — she beat Serena in the third round at Madrid less than three weeks ago. Justine Henin rallied in a winner-take-all set that seemed like a final, outslugging Maria Sharapova 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. In men's play, the top-ranked Federer continued his bid for a second successive title by beating Olympic doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 7-6 (5)

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.

WIMBLEDON, England - One has a quick smile, bubbly personality and Grand Slam title to call her own. The other is a fearsome competitor, but for her promise has yet to win a major tennis prize. They're Serena and Venus Williams, sisters taking their act on to Centre Court in today's Wimbledon women's semifinals. Williams vs. Williams is Wimbledon's main event, the family gathering and historic tennis slugfest televised 'round the world. Not since Maud Watson defeated her sister Lilian in the first women's final in 1884 have two sisters met so late in Wimbledon's championships.

WIMBLEDON, England - She's a feisty kid sister and a champ. She tosses a racket into the dust and a fist into the air. She's always in a hurry, first on court, first to ace, first to smile. But yesterday, the kid sister did something truly impetuous, confirming her place as the best player in a sport and a household. Serena Williams took her older sister Venus' crown at Wimbledon, winning, 7-6 (4), 6-3, in the tournament's first all-sister final since 1884. It wasn't a great match - but it might have been the true start of a great rivalry.

NEW YORK - Venus Williams swirls down the stairs in a ball gown in her latest tennis shoe commercial. But the display of grace and beauty has nothing on the tennis court, where Williams has grown up over the past five years. Yesterday, the defending U.S. Open champion was a study in poise as she almost casually crushed Kim Clijsters, 6-3, 6-1, in 65 minutes. "I've watched her and I knew she would hit the ball hard and deep," said Clijsters, who is seeded No. 5, just one spot below Williams in the Open draw.

PARIS - It's been sister against sister in Grand Slam event finals, four consecutive championship battles between Serena and Venus Williams, matches that were criticized for lacking inherent rivalry, for their unsurprising flatness. Now it's Belgian vs. Belgian. At the French Open today, and for the first time in history, two Belgian women, second-seeded Kim Clijsters and fourth-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne, will play for a major championship. The two are friends, having grown up together as tennis players and winners.

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)

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.

NEW YORK - She came. She played. And she was conquered. But Martina Naravatilova, 43, still can hold an audience. She packed each stadium she played during her women's doubles and mixed doubles matches at the U.S. Open and said the crowd's appreciation surprised her. "I mean, what I'm getting from the crowd I never got in my life, even the last couple years on the tour," she said, after she and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario lost their third-round match to...