July 2, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 1,1424

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LONDON, July 1: A double-barrelled shootout between the United States and Belgium looms in the Wimbledon women’s semifinals after Serena and Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne reached the last four on Tuesday.

Defending champion and top seed Serena won a tension-packed quarterfinal battle with compatriot Jennifer Capriati 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the game of the day to set up a semi-final grudge rematch with Henin.

The Belgian third seed, who controversially beat Serena in the French Open semifinals last month, demolished Russian debutante Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-2.

Henin’s compatriot Clijsters, the Belgian second seed, overcame a painful bee sting to beat Italian Sylvia Farina Elia 5-7, 6-0, 6-1 victory and reach the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time.

She faces a semifinal against fourth seed Venus, the 2000 and 2001 champion, who maintained her Grand Slam domination over fellow American Lindsay Davenport on Centre Court with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 success.

Serena’s draining victory had Centre Court spellbound as she recovered from a first-set drubbing to avenge her 2001 quarterfinal defeat by Capriati.

Displaying the guts of a champion, Serena hauled herself back into the match and screeched with delight and relief after holding her nerve to serve out for victory against one of her fiercest rivals.

On court one Farina, 31, produced a gutsy display to steal the first set off Clijsters having saved three set points at 4-5. The Belgian later revealed she had suffered a bee sting to her stomach at the vital moment of the 10th game.

Duly stung into action, the Belgian stormed through the next two sets in 43 minutes, only two minutes longer than the first set had taken.

Clijsters was rampant, with her sledgehammer forehand wreaking havoc. She won nine successive games and wrapped up victory in stupendous style with three successive aces.

Venus’s win in a see-saw match against Davenport, the 1999 champion, was her third successive win over her compatriot at the All England Club.

The older of the two Williams sisters beat Davenport in the 2000 Wimbledon final and the semifinals a year later. She also beat Davenport in the 2000 US Open final in between.

Davenport responded superbly to losing the first set and looked the likelier winner by the time she had taken the second. But the fifth seed ran out of steam in the decider.

French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, meanwhile, failed in his bid to become the first Spaniard to reach the quarterfinals here for 31 years when he lost 6-2, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 to Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean.

Resuming at two sets to one down after fading light had halted the fourth round tie on Monday, third seed Ferrero fought hard but was swept aside in a fourth-set tiebreak 7-3.

Grosjean’s win set up a quarterfinal on Wednesday against Britain’s Tim Henman, a player he beat on his way to the final at the pre-Wimbledon Stella Artois Championships.

In Ferrero’s absence, Swiss fourth seed Roger Federer is the highest seed left in the men’s draw.

Henman survived his first serious test at this year’s championships on Monday, holding his nerve to beat last year’s runner-up David Nalbandian 6-2, 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 in a thrilling encounter on Centre Court.

The British number one, burdened with the task of providing Britain with its first men’s singles champion here since Fred Perry in 1936, eventually booked his place in the last eight after three hours of high drama.

Tuesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Women’s singles:

Quarterfinals: 3-Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium) beat 33-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 6-2, 6-2; 1-Serena Williams (US) beat 8-Jennifer Capriati (US) 2-6, 6-2, 6-3; 4-Venus Williams (US) beat 5-Lindsay Davenport (US) 6-2, 2-6, 6-1; 2-Kim Clijsters (Belgium) beat 27-Silvia Farina Elia (Italy) 5-7, 6-0, 6-1.

Men’s singles:

Fourth round: 13-Sebastien Grosjean (France) beat 3-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3).

Monday’s remaining result: 10-Tim Henman (Britain) beat 6-David Nalbandian (Argentina) 6-2, 6-7, 7-5, 6-3.—Reuters