Just Williams in US Open final

One of sport's most personal and intruiging rivalries will be renewed tonight when the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, meet one another in the women's singles final of the US Open at the Arthur Ashe Stadium here in New York.

Serena, the younger of the two, produced a quite devastating performance to dismantle the world No 1, Martina Hingis, 6-3, 6-2 in just 51 minutes, before going on to cheer her sister, Venus, to a hard-fought 6-4, 6-2 victory over Jennifer Capriati.

Serena skipped and leapt around the court after her awesome triumph. For Hingis, however, it must have seemed like a dance on the grave of her tennis career. This morning she will be coming to terms with the fact that she can no longer survive with the power girls of tennis. Her lightweight, if cerebral game, based on precision and movement, is as redundant as the Dodo.

It was also sweet revenge for Williams who, together with sister Venus, had borne the brunt of criticism from Hingis in a recent Time Magazine article in which she claimed the Williams received contracts because they were black and other players were scared to criticise them for the same reason.

If ever words were pushed back down someone's throat it was last night as the younger half of the most famous sisters act in sport played her part in setting up the all-Williams final with a performance which was as ruthless as it was spectacular.

"Today was a fabulous day and I was really focused and had a lot of support," said a delighted Serena Williams.

"I'm just playing better now and I'm working so hard and I want it more than anything. I'm healthy, happy and it's going to be a great final. Now everyone support Venus so we can make history."

Hingis simply could not handle a Williams serve consistently around the 115mph mark.

Ten aces flew past her racket, while forehands and backhands of supreme power sprayed winners all around the court.

Report, page 23