KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- No. 16 seed Serena Williams moved into her third consecutive professional tennis final late yesterday afternoon, and then was in the stands last night at the Lipton Tournament when her older sister Venus pointed in her direction.
"I was basically saying, 'It's you and me for the final,' " said Venus, the defending Lipton Tournament champion, who beat Steffi Graf to set up the first all-sister final in professional women's tennis history.
If the Williamses pound each other the way they pounded their semifinal opponents yesterday, it should be a match to be remembered for the tennis as well as the family relationship.
In two stunning performances, Serena, 17 and vowing to make up for past history, beat world No. 1 Martina Hingis, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). Then Venus, 18, knocked off Graf, this tournament's winningest competitor, 6-2, 6-4.
"I guess it could be said that a new era in women's tennis has arrived," said Venus, the sixth seed. "This is where we always knew we could be."
As the twosome advanced yesterday, it was their individual power games that stood out, and younger sister Serena may have been the most impressive.
It is Serena who is the winner of 16 straight matches. Serena who is looking at the prospect of a third straight tournament title. And it is Serena who treated No. 1 Hingis like some Johnny-come-lately.
The score doesn't really tell the story.
Serena spotted Hingis an 0-4 lead in the first set and was down 5-2 in the second and facing a set point, when on each occasion she simply took a breath and followed a little advice from Venus before going on a victory march.
"I just kept thinking 'Fight!,' " said Serena, who came back to win eight straight games after her 0-4 start. "I tried to get motivated. Venus told me if I get down to just say a little something to myself, so I said, 'OK, I'm OK.' I'd say it one point at a time. All I had to do was hold, break, hold, break."
And this time, unlike a year ago when she had two match points against Hingis here in a quarterfinal loss, she won the match at the first opportunity.
"I took care of a little business," she said.
Venus, on the other hand, never had to worry about being down. She rushed to her own 3-0 lead in the first set against Graf and never looked back, though it did take her an extra game in the second set to clinch the victory.
Up 6-2, 5-3, 40-0, Venus couldn't close it out. Graf kept her off balance and then captured the break when Venus' forehand went wide. It was a short-lived reprieve for Graf, however. Venus came back in the very next game to set up another match point at 15-40, and this time there was no mistake, as she sent a backhand down the line to move into the finals.
"On the few points I played well, she did too," said Graf. "And she came up with the better shots."
The women's final will be played at noon tomorrow, while the men's final between No. 7 Richard Krajicek and No. 74 Sebastien Grosjean is at 1 p.m. today.
Krajicek, the 1996 Wimbledon champion, can move up to No. 4 in the world rankings and into contention in the tight race for No. 1 with a victory. Grosjean, 20, is looking for his first ATP title.
Yesterday, starting three hours late due to a rain delay, Serena turned the early smile on Hingis' face into a frown by the time they reached the second-set tiebreaker. And once Serena got to the tiebreaker, there was no holding her. She hit lines as if she had drawn them with her own racket. Forehands down the line. Backhands down the line. Forehand crosscourt winners on the line.
"She had only one way to go from 0-4," said Hingis. "She took the risk more, just hit the balls in instead of missing all the time. I was like, all of a sudden, keeping the ball in the game, and that wasn't enough anymore."
Serena committed 49 errors, most in the first set. It was in those early games that Hingis looked across the net and said to herself, "OK, when do you start playing?'
"I knew she had won back-to-back tournaments. I knew, obviously, she can play better. When we started, she was just too confident. She thought [I'd] miss everything. I know how I thought, 'OK, nobody's better than me.' But that doesn't always help. But she played a great match."
Hingis made only 14 unforced errors. In most cases, that alone should give her the upper hand. Against Serena, it meant nothing. Serena blasted 48 winners past her, some of them right under her nose.
"I didn't have that many chances," said Hingis. "She was always a step faster and quicker than me."
Pub Date: 3/27/99