Serena advances at expense of Venus

By Paul Newman

Friday, 5 September 2008

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GETTY IMAGES

Serena Williams twice came from behind to beat her sister Venus 7-6, 7-6

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Matches between the Williams sisters never used to live up to expectations, but for the third time this year they produced a contest to remember. Serena twice came from behind to beat Venus 7-6, 7-6 in their US Open quarter-final here on Wednesday night, but the more significant factor was her sister's failure to take her chances.

Venus wasted a total of 10 set points. Having let Serena back in after serving for the first set at 5-4 and then leading 6-4 in the tie-break, she squandered an even bigger advantage after leading 5-2 in the second set. Serving at 5-3 and 40-0, she hit three poor backhands in succession for her sister to break back.

In the second tie-break Venus took a 5-2 lead, but once again failed to drive home her advantage. Having failed to take eight points to win the set, she hit a forehand long when trailing 8-7 to hand Serena the match.

"I'm a very good closer and I've never had a match like this in my life," Venus said afterwards. "She played some great volleys and she got a lot of balls back. I think I was just spraying some shots tonight."

Serena added: "We have been playing really well in this tournament. It just boiled down to one point here and there."

Until they met in Bangalore in March the sisters had not played each other for three years. Serena won that match in a third-set tie-break, but when they met in the Wimbledon final four months later Venus won a high-quality contest in straight sets. Serena's latest victory gives her a 10-8 head-to-head lead.

Serena has won the title here twice, in 1999 and 2002, but this is the first time she has reached the semi-finals for six years. She now plays Dinara Safina, while Elena Dementieva meets Jelena Jankovic. All four semi-finalists here could replace Ana Ivanovic as world No 1 if they win the tournament.