Determined Venus squeezes past unlucky Rubin

VENUS Williams moved closer to another sister-sister final, stopping a strong challenge from Chanda Rubin for a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 win at the US Open yesterday.

Williams, the two-time defending champion, joined top-seeded Serena Williams in the quarterfinals.

Venus, seeded second, lost to her

sister in the finals of both the French Open and Wimbledon this year. That gave them a grip on three of the last four Grand Slam championship matches, starting with last year’s US Open.

But the 14th-seeded Rubin nearly broke that monopoly with a determined performance in which she gained momentum early in the second set, lost it early in the third, then somehow came back from a 4-1 deficit to throw one final scare into Williams.

“Today just wasn’t my best day,” Williams said. “I had a lot of short balls I just missed. It was definitely strange missing those shots, but I tried to stay calm.”

It was a gritty performance by Rubin, who had her second knee operation in two years and didn’t play a tournament until May 6 in Berlin.

As well as she played against the more powerful Williams, she missed a great opportunity for a stunning upset with the score 5-5 in the third set and Williams serving. Rubin went up 15-40, giving her two break points.

But she missed two forehands, tying the game, and Williams won the next two points to go up 6-5.

The last game was tied 30-30 before Williams won the next point. On match point, Williams hit a hard

approach shot to the deep corner that got by Rubin’s backhand.

With a look of relief, Williams waved to the crowd, tapped her tennis racket above her head, then made a forehand stroke with her right hand as she looked to the stands.

In the end, though, she couldn’t keep Venus from reaching the quarterfinals for the 18th time in her last 20 Grand Slam tournaments.

On the men’s side, four-time Open winner Pete Sampras is winning with stamina. Andre Agassi is winning with ease.

They’ve followed different paths at the tournament one marked by detours, the other by a straight line. The two emerged as two of the three Americans among the 12 men still playing.

“My body can certainly hold up to a pretty good beating,” Agassi said after his fourth consecutive straight-sets win. “But it is nice not to expend it if you don’t have to.”

Sampras didn’t have a choice.

His match against Greg Rusedski began on Sunday, but it was suspended by rain late in the first set. They finished it on Monday night, with Sampras emerging decisive 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4.