Kim v. Venus

Clijsters sets up US Open quarters match vs Venus Williams

Agence France-Presse

NEW YORK -- Fourth-seeded Belgian Kim Clijsters crushed Venezuelan Maria Vento-Kabchi 6-1, 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open tennis championships here Sunday.

Clijsters set up a meeting with Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, the 10th seed, who advanced with a straight sets win over her sister Serena.

Williams beat her little sister Serena 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 but the sister-act was hardly a showstopper.

"I don't think I played my best today at all," said Serena, the Australian Open champion whose season has been disrupted by a left ankle and knee injury. "And I don't think Venus did either.

"I told her, we were talking in the locker room, just how horrible we played. I said, "You played terrible.'

"She was like, 'I know.'"

It wasn't the first time a Williams sisters match failed to bring out the best in either.

"It was tough," Venus said. "I don't think Serena had her best day. I guess we know when she doesn't play her best is the best time to get a chance to win against her."

It was the sisters' ninth meeting in a Grand Slam, six of those coming in quarterfinals and only one -- their first professional clash in the second round of the 1998 Australian Open -- coming before the quarterfinals.

Both were disappointed that the slip in their rankings from their scant competition this summer brought about such an early meeting.

"We were sad when we heard the draw," Venus said. "It was super strange, for sure."

Both sisters displayed their full array of power groundstrokes and booming serves, and along with them a litany of momentum-destroying errors.

Venus, who had looked the sharper of the two in the first three rounds, looked well on the way to lifting the first set with a break in the seventh game, but double-faulted away a break to let Serena level at 5-5.

She had to fight off a set point to force the tiebreaker, but once the first set was gone Serena seemed to wilt.

"I definitely had my chances. I had a set point," said Serena, but she also acknowledged that the left leg she has worked to strengthen began to bother her in the later stages of the match.

"I was just having problems at the end because I was moving a lot and stopping a lot. It always gives me a little trouble after a certain time period," Serena said.

Also slated for action was men's top seed and defending champion Roger Federer, who took on diminutive Belgian Olivier Rochus for a place in the last 16.

Australian third seed Lleyton Hewitt, runner-up to Federer here last year, booked his fourth-round place with a hard-fought 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 7-5 victory over Taylor Dent, one of four Americans who made it through to the third round.

He will next go up against Dominik Hrbaty of the Czech Republic who hit back to defeat Spain's David Ferrer 6-7 (7/9), 7-5, 7-5, 7-5

Also joining them in the last 16 was Fernando Verdasco of Spain who outlasted the youngest player left in the competition, 18-year-old Serb Novak Djokovic 6-1, 4-6, 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-4.

Hewitt overcame his own serving woes with sheer hard work and a solid returning effort against the US serve-and-volleyer.

The Aussie finally sealed the win in the 12th game of the fifth set, needing four match points to do it.

"It was an extremely tough match," Hewitt said. "Taylor's never going to give you the match. I really had to earn it. I felt like I hit the ball well when I needed to."

Djokovic's bid to become the youngest man since Michael Chang in 1989 to reach the last 16 of the men's singles at the US Open also went down to the wire.

He had survived a grueling five sets marathon in the opening round against France's Gael Monfils, but on this occasion Verdasco, who ousted Britain's Tim Henman in the opening round, proved to be too strong.

The women's quarterfinal match-ups began to take shape as top seed Maria Sharapova made light work of rising Indian star Sania Mirza, winning 6-2, 6-1 to set up a clash with ninth-seeded compatriot Nadia Petrova.

Petrova defeated Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic 7-6, (7/4), 7-5.

In an entertaining clash of two 18-year-olds, Sharapova proved too strong for Mirza, winning 6-2, 6-1 in 59 minutes.

The Indian matched her high-profile opponent in the exchanges, with the main difference between the two coming on serve.

Sharapova was able to call on hers when she needed it, while Mirza flung in six double faults and was badly punished on her weak second serve.

"I'm playing pretty well, but it is going to get tougher and tougher," said Sharapova.