Top women crank up game

NEW YORK -- She slipped and fell in her first service game, framed a serve earlier -- leading to an ugly-looking double fault -- and faced three break points.

Every game tells a story.

In this case, it was wildly inaccurate.

No. 12-seeded Venus Williams saved those three break points against No. 5 Ana Ivanovic and steamrollered the Serbian teenager in a 6-4, 6-2 victory Sunday in the fourth round of the U.S. Open. After that, she never faced another break point.

Williams’ purposeful display signaled that, indeed, the second week of the Open has commenced. She made Ivanovic, who recently won an Open tuneup tournament in Carson, look almost pedestrian.

If Williams rendered Ivanovic irrelevant, then top-seeded Justine Henin made No. 15 Dinara Safina look like a 4.0-level USTA league player, winning the first nine games.

Henin defeated Safina, 6-0, 6-2, in 59 minutes and sent her own message to the Williams family. She committed nine unforced errors, including four in the first set.

Certainly, the bar had been raised earlier by the sisters. Venus played after No. 8 Serena, who beat No. 10 Marion Bartoli, 6-3, 6-4, in 1 hour 16 minutes, hitting 10 aces.

The sisters inched toward a possible semifinal meeting here Friday. But for Serena there’s one obstacle named Henin looming large in the quarterfinals Tuesday.

“You know, I’m going in feeling like I don’t have anything to lose,” said Serena, who lost to Henin in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the French Open this year and was hampered by an injured left thumb in their most-recent match.

“I just feel different now. Excited about the prospect of meeting her again.”

Said Henin: “It was important for me to beat her on another surface than clay in Wimbledon. But it was very emotional for me. That took a lot of energy that match. I know it’s going to be a different surface. She’s here at home. She loves to play the U.S. Open.”

Henin might have won their major meetings this year, but Serena beat her in the final at Miami after losing the first set 0-6 and later saving two match points.

“We all help each other to be better,” Henin said. “And when you feel another player is playing well, you want to be better. That’s great. That’s the way I felt when I was with Kim [Clijsters] on the tour.”

Serena said pain in her thumb -- which put her on the sideline most of the summer -- is finally gone when she hits her two-handed backhand.

“I had a really bad sprain in my ligament,” she said. “It’s common with football players, safeties or whatever position. They kind of grab the helmet and the thumb goes back. They never see this injury outside of football players, so it was really strange.”

Venus, who will play No. 3 Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinals was asked about the prospect of facing Serena.

“That would be awesome because it would mean that there is a Williams in the final, and it would mean that Americans have a chance to win,” Venus said.

She then praised the likes of Andy Roddick and James Blake -- both winners on Saturday -- and must have known something because she didn’t mention another American, Robby Ginepri, who at the time still had a chance in the event.

At least until Sunday night.

A semifinalist here in 2005, Ginepri exited in heartbreaking fashion, having won two of the first three sets against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland. Wawrinka defeated Ginepri, 5-7, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, in 3 hours 39 minutes.

“Long slow death for me tonight,” Ginepri said.

The same could be applied to the loser of the Carlos Moya-Philipp Kohlschreiber match. Moya won, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4, in 4 hours 3 minutes. Meanwhile, the injury worries of No. 2 Rafael Nadal and his knee seemed to have eased.

“Today I feel better,” said Nadal, who beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 7-6 (3), 6-2, 6-1. “It’s very important thing. Just think about the ball, don’t think about the pain, because if not, it’s impossible.”

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U.S. Open glance

Top players on court today: No. 1 Roger Federer vs. Feliciano Lopez, No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko vs. Lee Hyung-taik, No. 5 Andy Roddick vs. No. 9 Tomas Berdych, No. 6 James Blake vs. No. 10 Tommy Haas; No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Victoria Azarenka, Anna Chakvetadze vs. Tamira Paszek, No. 18 Shahar Peer vs. Agnieszka Radwanska.

Stat of the day: Tomas Berdych, who faces Andy Roddick in a fourth-round match today, has played 10 Grand Slam matches against top-10 opponents and lost all of them.

Quote of the day: “Serena reminds me of a pit bull dog and a young Mike Tyson, all in one. Venus reminds me of a gazelle that’s able to move, prance and jump.” -- Richard Williams, father of the Williams sisters

Associated Press