Serena Knocks Venus Out of Orbit to Win Title
by Matt Cronin
Sunday, September 8, 2002

Clearly dominating her sport like no other player has done in five years, top seed Serena Williams ran over her older sister Venus 6-4, 6-2 to win her second US Open title on Saturday.

Playing a confident, powerful and heady contest, Serena emphatically proved to the world that she is the best player in her family, and on the planet, out-serving, out-stroking and out-gutting Venus on a star-studded night at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

"I'm just happy to win here again," said Serena, who won her first US Open in 1999 and also won Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year. "It's been a long time since '99. I almost forgot how it felt. I'm more mature and relaxed now. I'm a better player and I have more fun than I used to. I'm not as stressed out."

While Venus appeared to be nervous and unsure of her strategy much of the night, Serena was focused and confident from the get go, attacking Venus' serve and nearly breaking her in the contests' opening game.

"Normally, I don't think anyone can return my serve, not even Serena, " Venus said. "But sometimes people are just in the zone...She hasn't been able to play her best in every match, but it's the sign of a champion when you can pull out the best times."

But Venus fought off four break points with a series of stinging winners and appeared to be ready to fight to the last ball. But in her first service game, Serena showed that she wasn't going to waver, hitting her spots in the box, dominating the court with her huge forehand and hanging comfortably with Venus in backhand rallies. Venus again fought off three break points to go ahead 3-2 with heavy winners but in the seventh game, Serena struck, breaking her sister with an inside out forehand winner.

But Venus broke her right back with a backhand swing volley down the line. Instead of holding the fort on her next service game, Venus grew shaky, double faulting at deuce and then badly missing on a forehand approach shot to hand Serena a 5-4 lead. Serena served out the set with a wicked 105-mph slice serve out wide.

"My serve went very well," Serena said. "It's been working for me the whole tournament. Once my serve is on, my game goes up a level."

A desultory Venus was broken to 2-1 in the second set when she double faulted on game point, while Serena continued to pounce. She broke Venus again to 4-1 when she climbed all over her sister's serves and watched Venus park a backhand at game point.

"I just have a method. I just hit it," Serena said of her return. "Like Andre, I just kind of get it and hit it back."

Venus then changed tactics and attempted to unearth Serena by rushing the net more and broke her back to 4-2 when Serena missed two forehands. But Serena came roaring back and broke Venus to win the contest on her third match point, when she ripped a backhand down the line that Venus couldn't handle and dumped into the net.

Serena smiled widely and bent over in joy.

"I did the best I could," said Venus, who committed 33 unforced errors and whacked only 19 winners. "I made a lot of errors and it makes it tough to win. Serena was the best player this year. I have to give it to her. My game went down after the fourth round. I just couldn't do anything to bring it back. After that, I posed and pretended that I was doing well, but I wasn't doing as well as I would have liked."

Venus was disappointed by her failure to defend her title, but praised Serena for her standout year.

"The last couple of years haven't been her best years, so she was really rejuvenated and motivated to come out and play well this year. She had a lot to play for," Venus said. "My level is about the same. Mentally I'm not there as much. Serena's level is up. I just have to go home."

Serena became the first woman since Martina Hingis to win three Slams in a year and joined a pantheon of great to do so -- Graf, Seles , Navratilova, King and Court.

"It's unbelievable,' Serena said. "Those are the people I grew up admitting and hoping that maybe I would even be on that level. I'm 20, kind of young. It's exciting."

Serena is so confident right now that she's aiming to do what would have appeared impossible for her two years ago when she was struggling to stay with the elite -- win a calendar year Grand Slam in 2003.

"I have that focus," Serena said. "As long as I'm physically ready and as long as I'm able to win the matches, I don't think I'd have any problems mentally. It's something I'd work towards."