The ball-blasting sisters struggled at times, but responded to their semifinal challenges here Friday to create the fourth all-Williams final in the last five Slams and a rematch of last year’s Flushing Meadows final.
“At this point, Venus and I are very even,” Serena Williams said. “It’s going to be a slugfest. We both want to win very badly. Now we are just fighting against each other. We enjoy it more than anything.”
Venus won her 19th match in a row, ousting French 10th seed Amelie Mauresmo 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. Venus saved three break points in the final game with ferocious serves despite a blister on her right palm to reach her fourth US Open final in six years.
Serena defeated fourth-seeded fellow American Lindsay Davenport 6-3, 7-5. After falling behind 5-2 in the second set, Serena won 12 of the last 13 points and the final five games of the match.
“Both matches, at big points, they stepped it up to an incredible level,” Davenport said. “Amelie and I were competitive. We had our chances out there.”
Serena, the 1999 US Open champion, is going for her third consecutive Slam title after defeating Venus in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon. No woman has owned three Slam titles simultaneously since Martina Hingis in 1998.
“I’m really happy to get this far for the third straight time,” Serena Williams said. “It will be a good match. Venus is playing well and I’m playing all right.”
Venus, 22, could become the first woman to win three US Open crowns in a row since Chris Evert matched the tournament record with her fourth in a row in 1978. She has reached the US Open final for the fourth time in six years.
Serena, who turns 21 later this month, will try to match her sister with a fourth Slam title and become the first woman to win three Slam titles in a row since Martina Hingis in 1998.
“She is playing really well,” Venus said. “It’s really easy to play well after you have won two Grand Slam titles and your confidence is at an all-time high. I’ve been there and done that before. You feel pretty much like you can do anything.”
The pro rivalry between the sisters is level at 5-5, although that counts a victory for Serena Williams by walkover in the 2001 Indian Wells semifinals.
“They are dominating a lot more than I thought possible,” said Richard Williams, the sisters’ father. “They are stepping up a whole hell of a lot more since they got to one and two. I expect you will see some hard hitting out there tomorrow.”
Serena rose to 9-2 against Davenport. In the 10th game of the second set, Serena saved three set-point chances by Davenport. The first came on her 12th of 13 aces, the second on a forehand winner and the third with a forehand winner.
Williams held, then broke Davenport at love and held again in five points to win in 82 minutes.
“Nothing seemed to bother her,” Davenport said. “She came up with some big serves at the right time in the match, especially in the big game in the second set.”
Davenport, playing only her fifth event since an eight-month layoff for left knee surgery, had no winners in the first set and only 10 overall to Serena’s 35.
“Lindsay was playing really good and I was making a lot of errors,” Serena said. “I was just really nervous. I was a little shaky out there.”
Venus held off Mauresmo despite 10 double faults and 44 unforced errors.
“I just tried to stay calm and keep telling myself. It’s just a game, try to have fun with it,” Venus said.
She gave Mauresmo three break points to level the set in the final game, then blasted two service winners, an ace, and another service winner to reach match point, which she won when Mauresmo’s service return landed past the baseline.
“It was nice to win when I was on the brink of losing it,” she said. “It was four great serves from me to get to match point and then a second (serve). I think she went for it and just didn’t get it.”
Williams was treated for the blister before the 12th game of the second set, a bandage covering the sore area in her right palm, and promptly surrendered a break to lose the set, firing a forehand long on the final point.
“With the blister in my hand, it was hard to hold my racket at times,” Williams said. “I really don’t know what happened. I have never had a blister on my hand before. It was a new experience for me.”
Venus said the blister would not help her sister.
“I hope I wouldn’t let a blister hold me back from playing my best tennis. But little things mean a lot,” she said.
Venus Williams improved to 5-0 against Mauresmo, the first French woman to reach the US Open semifinals since Francoise Durr in 1967.
“I just tried to keep playing. What can you do?” Mauresmo said. “She’s 0-40 down and comes up with four big serves. There’s nothing much I can do about it.”
Results: (prefix number denotes seeding):
Semifinals: 1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat 4-Lindsay Davenport (U.S.) 6-3 7-5; 2-Venus Williams (U.S.) beat 10-Amelie Mauresmo (France) 6-3 5-7 6-4—Reuters