No Drama, but Venus Owns the Sister Show

Once there was anticipation, hype and pageantry, and then, more often than not, disappointment.

The prelude was different when sisters Venus and Serena Williams played each other Sunday at the U.S. Open, but the letdown was the same.

The hype was minimal before 10th-seeded Venus defeated eighth-seeded Serena, 7-6 (5), 6-2, in about an hour and a half in the fourth round. No fireworks, no Diana Ross.

As it turned out, it wasn’t even the most compelling contest for fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday afternoon. That honor went to the five-set thriller won by Lleyton Hewitt over Taylor Dent.

“I don’t think I played my best today at all,” said Serena, who had six aces and double-faulted six times. “I don’t think Venus did either. We were talking in the locker room, just how horrible we played. I said, ‘You played terrible.’ She was like, ‘I know.’

“I said, ‘I played much better against [Francesca] Schiavone.’ She said, ‘Yeah, you did.’ ”

In this circumstance, there were reasonable explanations beyond the usual sisterly angst. If the sisters dislike meeting in Grand Slam finals -- they’ve played in six -- playing as early as the fourth round is downright unacceptable for a pair who matched up here in a 2001 prime-time final prefaced by Ross’ rendition of “God Bless America.” This was the earliest they have met at a Grand Slam event since the second round of the Australian Open in 1998.

Serena called it “very, very weird and awkward and bizarre.”

Said Venus: “Super strange.”

Then there was the matter of Serena’s lack of fitness and absence of match play. She has been rounding into form but playing one match between Wimbledon and the U.S. Open was bound to have consequences. Her Australian Open title in January seemed long ago.

By the final game Sunday, Serena clearly was favoring her left leg. An injured left ankle has affected her mobility since April. And lack of fitness was an issue in a third-round loss to Jill Craybas at Wimbledon, one round before a potential match against Venus.

Favoring her left ankle apparently created problems in her left knee after Wimbledon. Serena played one match in Toronto and pulled out.

Despite her limitations, Serena nearly won the first set Sunday, coming within a point in the 12th game. Venus had served for it at 5-4 and was broken at love, double-faulting on break point. Serena held to go up, 6-5, and had a set point. Venus, serving at 30-40, saved it with a 113-mph service winner into the body.

Again, Venus came from behind in the tiebreaker, erasing a 1-3 deficit, winning six of the final eight points. The second set lasted half an hour as Venus broke serve twice and picked apart Serena’s backhand.

It may have been far from the best match they’ve played, but it wasn’t the worst. Venus and Serena combined for 59 unforced errors, a far cry from the 2002 French Open final when they had 101 unforced errors and 13 service breaks.

Serena disagreed with the thought that the two can’t play as well against one another.

“I disagree 100%,” she said. “We’ve had some incredibly tough matches. Some of my toughest matches have been against her. I think of the Australian Open in ’03. I was barely able to win that. All three times we played at Wimbledon.

“We play so hard. We hit so many winners. We go for a lot.”

Venus, the Wimbledon champion, has defeated Serena in their two meetings in 2005, and next will play fourth-seeded Kim Clijsters of Belgium in the quarterfinals. Clijsters, who defeated Venus in the Palo Alto final in July, defeated Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela, 6-1, 6-0, in 42 minutes.

“At that point, I was at zero,” Venus said of the July loss to Clijsters. “It was really hard for me because I wanted to play the tournament, but I felt terrible and tired and everything hurt. I was a little bit upset because ... under normal circumstances I really felt I would have been able to win that match. But it’s the past now, and she’s playing really well.”

Meanwhile, Serena still was trying to come to grips with the afternoon, saying: “I can’t believe I’m out of the tournament.”

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At a glance

Highlights from Sunday at the U.S. Open:

* Men’s seeded winners: No. 1 Roger Federer, No. 3 Lleyton Hewitt, No. 11 David Nalbandian and No. 15 Dominik Hrbaty.

* Men’s seeded losers: No. 17 David Ferrer, No. 21 Fernando Gonzalez, No. 25 Taylor Dent, No. 27 Olivier Rochus and No. 30 Max Mirnyi.

* Women’s seeded winners: No. 1 Maria Sharapova, No. 4 Kim Clijsters, No. 9 Nadia Petrova and No. 10 Venus Williams.

* Women’s seeded losers: No. 8 Serena Williams and No. 26 Nicole Vaidisova.

FEATURED MATCHES

* Day session: Nathalie Dechy (15), France, vs. Lindsay Davenport (2); Andre Agassi (7), vs. Xavier Malisse, Belgium; Tommy Robredo (19), Spain, vs. James Blake; Guillermo Coria (8), Argentina, vs. Nicolas Massu, Chile; Elena Dementieva (6), Russia, vs. Patty Schnyder (11), Switzerland; Elena Likhovtseva (19), Russia, vs. Amelie Mauresmo (3), France; Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu (15), Chile, vs. Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (2).

* Night session: Justine Henin-Hardenne (7), Belgium, vs. Mary Pierce (12), France; Richard Gasquet (13), France, vs. Robby Ginepri.