Venus wins Williams' clash
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ByEurosport
Published 29/03/2005 at 21:00 GMT
Venus Williams beat her sister Serena for the first time in three-and-a-half years on Tuesday, sealing a place in the semi-finals of the Miami Open with a 6-1 7-6 victory. She will meet Russian Maria Sharapova who earlier ended Belgium's Justine Henin-Har
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Venus brought to an end her sister's three-year reign as women's champion here and will play Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova in the last four.
"We've played some huge matches," said Venus. "This one definitely is a highlight.
"The first set was fantastic. The second set I definitely missed some opportunities [but] credit to Serena. It's not like she gave me that many points. I definitely had my hands full."
Venus had lost to her younger sister in their last six meetings and had not bettered her since the 2001 US Open final.
"A loss is a loss, so for me it's no different to losing to any top player," said Serena.
Venus raced to a 5-0 lead in the first set and always looked the stronger but Serena fought back in the second and had two set-points in the decisive tiebreaker before her sister wrapped the match up.
"There was nothing I could do in the first set but I had plenty of chances in the second," said Serena. "I made some errors at the wrong time."
SHARAPOVA ENDS HENIN-HARDENNE'S RUN
Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova beat former world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne 6-1 6-7 (6-8) 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open on Tuesday to end the Belgian's comeback at her first tournament in seven months, since the U.S Open, due to a battles against the virus mononucleosis. James Buddell reports.
Sharapova ran through the first set in 27 minutes breaking Henin-Hardenne in the second, fourth and sixth games.
And should have booked her place in the semi-finals in emphatic fashion.
Holding three match points on serve at 5-4, Sharapova's backhand crumbled under the attacking game of Henin-Hardenne whose confidence subsequently grew.
The Belgian failed to capture one of four set points at 6-5, but closed out the second set in a tense tie-break won by eight points to six.
During the set interval, 17-year-old Sharapova received treatment on her lower back.
Afterwards the Russian explained: "I've had a back problem for a little while already."
"I did so much running today that it started to get stiff. I got some treatment and I just tried to forget about it. Hopefully I'll be back fresh."
Having won the second set Henin-Hardenne had the momentum, but the three-minute injury time-out Sharapova took settled her and she broke serve to go 2-0 up in the third and never allowed her advantage to slip.
After two hours and 17 minutes she took the match with a crosscourt backhand winner.
"Things can turn around quickly, that's tennis for you," said Sharapova.
"I knew I had to lift my game in the third set because all of a sudden she was getting a lot more balls back. She's a huge fighter out there."
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