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| September 4, 2005 | Sunday | Rajab 29, 1426 |
Siblings Venus, Serena set up new clash
NEW YORK, Sept 3: Serena and Venus Williams set up another all-in-the family clash after both scored straight sets victories in the third round of the US Open on Friday. Serena saw off Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-3, 6-4, and then watched older sibling Venus win 6-3, 6-3 for for an eighth victory in as many games against Daniela Hantucheva of Slovakia.
Sunday’s fourth round encounter will be the second time the pair have met this year, with Venus winning in straight sets in Miami in March.
Prior to that, Serena had won six in a row including the 2003 final at Wimbledon the last time they met in a Grand Slam tournament.
They have twice met in the US Open final in 2001 when Venus won and the following year when Serena won, but only in the first of their 14 official WTA meetings, at the Australian Open in 1998, have they met earlier than the quarterfinals.
Wimbledon champion Venus said of the clash with her Australian Open champion sister: “There’s going to be a lot of hard hitting, a lot of hard serving. We’ll both have a few tricks up our sleeves.”
In the men’s tournament top seed Roger Federer safely negotiated the unique wizardry of Frenchman Fabrice Santoro winning 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2) and will play tiny Olivier Rochus of Belgium for a place in the last 16.
On another day of the top players dominating their opponents in the women’s draw, No 1 seed Maria Sharapova and tournament favourite Kim Clijsters also scored comfotable straight sets victories.
Sharapova cuffed unseeded German Julia Schruff 6-2, 6-4 and has lost just nine games in three rounds as she campaigns for her second Grand Slam title after last year’s unexpected Wimbledon triumph.
She next takes on Sania Mirza after the Indian starlet had balanced 45 winners against 49 unforced errors in defeating France’s Marion Bartoli 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.
The Russian will start a huge favourite in the first meeting between the two 18-year-olds, but she said she would be taking her threat seriously.
“It’s going to be another tough one,” she said. “I haven’t really seen much of how she plays. I heard she’s got a big and powerful game. You just have to go out there and see how it goes.”
Clisters, who won three out of the four buildup tournaments ahead of New York, breezed past Jaapanese veteran Ai Sugiyama 6-1, 6-4 and into a fourth round tie against unseeded Venezuelan Maria Vento-Kabchi.
Also moving through to the last 16 were Russian ninth seed Nadia Petrova and up-and-coming Czech Nicole Vaidisova.
In the men’s tournament, third seed Lleyton Hewitt set up a third round meeting with big-hitting American Taylor Dent, but he needed to dig deep at times to see off an unexpectedly stern challenge from Jose Acasuso.
The Argentinian, trying to adapt his claycourt game to the demands of hardcourt tennis, took the third seeded Australian to tie-breakers in the opening two sets, but lost both of them to fall 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3), 6-2.
Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, who ousted Tim Henman in his first outing, joined Paradorn and Sanguinetti in the third round with a 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 win over Paul Capdeville of Chile.
Comeback of the day went to Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer who lost the first two sets to Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic before clawing his way back to win 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
But there was no such end of the rainbow stuff for the new blue-eyed boy of British tennis Andy Murray whose batteries ran dry after levelling at two sets all against Arnaud Clement.
He cramped up once again and lost the last six games to crash out. It was more mental than physical he insisted.
Friday’s results:
Men’s singles:
Second round: 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) bt Fabrice Santoro (France) 7-5, 7-5, 7-6(2); 21-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) bt Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; 11-David Nalbandian (Argentina) bt Peter Wessels (Netherlands) 7-6(4), 1-6, 6-2, 7-6(4); Arnaud Clement (France) bt Andy Murray (Britain) 6-2, 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-7(4), 6-0; Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) bt 16-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3; 27-Olivier Rochus (Belgium) bt Albert Montanes (Spain) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3; Novak Djokovic (Serbia and Montenegro) bt 22-Mario Ancic (Croatia) 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3; 15-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) bt Michael Lammer (Switzerland) 6-1, 6-1, 6-3; 17-David Ferrer (Spain) bt Karol Kucera (Slovakia) 6-3, 6-0, 6-2; 3-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) bt Jose Acasuso (Argentina) 7-6(6), 7-6(3), 6-2; 30-Max Mirnyi (Belarus) bt Florent Serra (France) 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(4); 25-Taylor Dent (US) bt Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5; Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) bt Bjoern Phau (Germany) 6-2, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4; Fernando Verdasco (Spain) bt Paul Capdeville (Chile) 6-4, 6-2, 7-5; Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) bt 6-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) 6-4, 7-5, 6-3; Davide Sanguinetti (Italy) bt 31-Carlos Moya (Spain) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
Women’s singles:
Third round: 10-Venus Williams (US) bt 20-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 6-3, 6-3; Maria Vento-Kabchi (Venezuela) bt Shahar Peer (Israel) 7-5, 4-6, 6-3; 4-Kim Clijsters (Belgium) bt 30-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-1, 6-4; 9-Nadia Petrova (Russia) bt Laura Granville (US) 6-2, 7-5; 8-Serena Williams (US) bt 25-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-3, 6-4; 26-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) bt Ivana Lisjak (Croatia) 6-1, 7-6(2); 1-Maria Sharapova (Russia) bt Julia Schruff (Germany) 6-2, 6-4; Sania Mirza (India) bt Marion Bartoli (France) 7-6(4), 6-4.—Agencies
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