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Men's Tennis
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Women's Tennis
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| Friday, May 4 |
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| Dokic, Williams to square off Associated Press | |||
HAMBURG, Germany – Top-seeded Venus Williams powered her
way Friday into the semifinals of the Betty Barclay Cup, rolling
past Silvia Farina-Elia 6-1, 6-1 in less than an hour.
Jelena Dokic rallied to oust three-time Hamburg champion Arantxa
Sanchez-Vicario 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 and Meghann Shaughnessy became
the second American to reach the last four by beating Patty
Schnyder 6-4, 6-4.
Dokic will play Williams in the semifinals of the $565,000 clay
court event. Shaughnessy, seeded seventh, will play No. 2 Amanda
Coetzer of South Africa, who outlasted No. 6 Justine Henin of
Belgium 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.
Williams, playing her first tournament in a month, put pressure
on Farina-Elia from the opening shot.
"I was swinging well and I had a nice win," said Williams, who
won the tournament in 1999.
The American, ranked No. 2 in the world, cruised through the
first set in 21 minutes, broke serve for a 1-0 lead in the second
and served three aces in going up 2-0 before she met more
resistance.
Farina-Elia, a 29-year-old Italian who has improved her ranking
from No. 86 to No. 29 since October, dropped the next game after
battling valiantly but gained her first break of serve in the
fourth game.
But her revival was short-lived as Williams broke back
immediately by using powerful and accurate ground strokes.
"I had some lapses where I lost concentration a little bit, but
I gained it back after a couple of points. But I really like to
play consistently the whole time," Williams said.
She was impressive in the final game, ruling the net and forcing
the Italian into a forehand error on match point, winning in 56
minutes. Williams is now 6-0 against the Italian.
"I won't say her game particularly suits mine or gives me a lot
of rhythm," Williams said. "All games suit mine." Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories | |
ALSO SEE Friday's results Venus Williams shows little rust in Hamburg | |
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