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Men's Tennis
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Women's Tennis
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| Friday, August 24 |
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| Williams, Davenport take different paths to final Associated Press | |||
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Venus Williams beat second-seeded
Jennifer Capriati, 6-4, 7-6 (1) on Friday night in a semifinal match
at the Pilot Pen, just hours after she had won a three-set
quarterfinal over Justine Henin.
The third-seeded Williams will play top-seeded Lindsay Davenport
in the final on Saturday. Davenport advanced when No. 4 Kim
Clijsters pulled out because of a leg injury.
Williams, the two-time defending champion, showed no fatigue in
the night match, instead looked stronger, faster and more accurate.
The quarterfinal had been postponed from Thursday night by rain. It
was the first time in Williams' professional career she played two
singles matches in a tournament on the same day.
Williams said fatigue was not a factor Friday night.
"I'm just riding on a high," she said. "Jennifer played very
well. I had to play my best."
She beat the fifth-seeded Henin 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 in the afternoon.
In all she played 52 games in 3 hours, 30 minutes.
Williams has not lost a match in New Haven and the second set
against Henin is the only one she has lost.
Williams and Capriati, both power players, locked up in long
baseline volleys throughout the match. But it was Williams' strong
service game and range that made the difference. Except for
pinpoint winners, Capriati had few places to land the ball because
Williams seemed to reach the ball from anywhere.
"I think it's a great match for me because my game is more in
tune and it's always great to play a power hitter," Williams said.
Williams pounced repeatedly on Capriati's second serve. Capriati
held serve just once in the first set. Williams had four of her
five aces in the first set.
Capriati dug in for the second set and rallied from 1-4 to send
it to a tiebreaker. After Capriati evened the tiebreaker at 1-1,
Williams ran off the next six points, taking the match when
Capriati sent a forehand into the net.
"This is one of the better matches I've seen her play this
week," Capriati said.
Williams beat Davenport in the finals of the 1999 Pilot Pen and
since then is 5-2 against her.
Clijsters strained her right thigh in Thursday's quarterfinal
win over Nathalie Tauziat and said it didn't improve overnight.
With the U.S. Open looming, she pulled out just hours before the
scheduled semifinal with Davenport.
"I'm sorry it had to end this way," she said. "I think it's
the best decision for my health. I'm going to rest for a few days
and get a lot of treatment. I hope I can start on Tuesday at the
U.S. Open."
Clijsters beat Davenport for the first time in five tries in the
title match in Stanford, Calif., last month.
The walkover gives Davenport two days' rest going into the
final.
"I've had so many injuries over my career and it's really
heartbreaking when you can't even take the court," she said. "I
sympathize with Kim a lot."
Williams called her quarterfinal with Henin a "great practice"
for her night match. Williams was serving for the match at 5-4 in
the second set against Henin but lost 11 of the next 13 points to
send the match into the third set.
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ALSO SEE Davenport advances as Clijsters drops out of Pilot Pen Friday's results Capriati, Clijsters advance to semis at Pilot Pen | |
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