Serena Williams upends sister Venus, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (7), at U.S. Open
TENNIS
Serena reaches the semifinals in New York after a stirring victory that roused a standing ovation just before the second-set tiebreaker.
NEW YORK -- In a rousing match that triggered an impromptu standing ovation during the second-set tiebreaker, Serena Williams played the role of escape artist in edging her sister Venus Williams 7-6 (6), 7-6 (7), in a U.S. Open quarterfinal Wednesday night with the distinct air of a final.
Almost uncannily, Serena rebuffed two set points in the first set and eight in the second. She trailed 6-4 in the first-set tiebreaker and 6-3 in the second. Venus served for the set at 5-4 in the first set and at 5-3 in the second. In contrast to Venus' 10 set points, Serena held only two.
When she converted both to advance to a semifinal Friday against Dinara Safina, Serena said in an on-court interview on the USA Network, "It was so hard. I can't believe I won."
An absorbed crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium perhaps couldn't believe it either, having watched the two sisters from Compton flirt regularly with their highest levels, mashing groundstokes at each other for long rallies in the 5-3 game of the second set, the 5-6 game of the second set with Venus serving and the tiebreaker.
Even though Venus contributed errors on her 10 set points, and even though she barely missed an overhead wide after playing aggressively at 6-5 in the second-set tiebreaker, the quality often soared, and Serena often proved impenetrable on those set points.
Finally the crowd, having witnessed a stirring five-deuce game just before the second-set tiebreaker, bolted to its feet after the seventh point of that tiebreaker, a 16-shot rally in which Serena repeatedly chased Venus' volleys before finally succumbing to a put-away smash.
The sisters got started late, having waited through a turgid men's quarterfinal between Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro, and they couldn't get going early, but the quality soon rose toward the end of the first set, and the fracas carried through the second.
Even at the end, doubt ruled at 6-6 in the latter tiebreaker when Serena hit a return the linesman called good, but which Venus challenged successfully on the Hawk-Eye system to gain yet another set point. But after Serena's emphatic backhand volley negated that, Venus crushed two forehands long and Serena had the hardcourt win she couldn't manage against her sister on grass in the Wimbledon final.
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