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Venus digs deep
01/07/2003 18:12 - (SA)
London - Venus Williams powered into the last four at Wimbledon for the fourth straight year after digging deep to crush the spirited resistance of Lindsay Davenport in the third set of a quarter-final thriller here on Tuesday.
Williams, the fourth seed, won 6-2 2-6 6-1 to move into a semi-final clash with Belgian second seed Kim Clijsters, who dropped her first set of the tournament before knocking out Italy's Silvia Farina Elia.
Williams, the champion here in 2000 and 2001 before being dethroned by younger sister Serena last year, was relieved to have come through a tough examination by her compatriot.
"Lindsay played so well I had to stay on my toes for the whole match," she said before rubbishing suggestions that she had lost some of her appetite for tennis since being eclipsed by Serena.
"I'm just a 23-year-old. I've won a couple of slams but I'd like to add to the collection and this is the place to do it."
The players had only been on court for nine minutes when a sudden downpour forced them back into the locker room for an hour and ten minutes.
Williams had enjoyed the better of the early exchanges, breaking her opponent to open up a 2-0 lead.
But it was Davenport who seemed to settle fastest after the restart, breaking Williams then reeling off five points in a row to hold her own serve from 0/40 down and level things up at 2-2.
The rally proved short-lived however as Williams reeled off the next four games to wrap up the first set after just 29 minutes with a forehand winner.
The loss of the first set prompted a change in tactics from Davenport, who immediately adopted a higher risk strategy of trying to take Williams' serve earlier.
The more aggressive approach paid immediate dividends with a break in the first game of the set. After saving three break points in a lengthy sixth game, Davenport then secured a second break to lead 5-2 before serving out for the set in emphatic style.
Williams got her nose back in front in the fourth game of the third. Davenport had saved one break point but there was nothing she could on the second when Venus unleashed an unstoppable backhand down the line.
The breakthrough appeared to give Venus a major lift, judging by the shrieks which began to accompany her ferocious groundstrokes, and from then on there was only going to be one winner.
- AFX
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