Williams sisters roll on

The dominance of Venus and Serena Williams on women’s tennis was further enhanced as both won their matches at the US Open last night, albeit in contrasting styles.

While world number one and top seed Serena was demolishing Daniela Hantuchova in straight sets, Venus had to fight decidedly harder to overcome fellow American Chanda Rubin.

Serena produced a devastating performance to beat Hantuchova 6-2 6-2 and book a semi-final date with Lindsay Davenport.

She again donned her intimidating black Lycra outfit and again she looked every inch a champion athlete.

But despite her performance against the Slovakian, Serena was cautious to talk down any prospects of an easy victory in the next match, recalling how her reign as champion was ended by Davenport in the 2000 quarter-finals.

“Well, I was defending champion that year. Lindsay played very, very well that night. There was nothing I could do to beat her,” she said.

“Last year we had a very tough match. She played well again. I remember I had a match point. She goes and hits this ball on the line. It was for a winner.”

From the outset, Williams dominated and forced the Slovakian to change her game to serve and volley in an attempt to get to grips with the match.

While it did pay some dividends and brought some enthusiastic support from the crowd, Hantuchova’s wry smile at the change-overs told the story: She was never really in the contest.

Williams was far too good and won in just 55 minutes, although she was dogged by more double faults than she would have wanted – four in all – and also snatched at some forehand shots early in the match.

But those problems were minor compared to her sister’s difficulties in earlier overcoming Rubin.

The match was supposed to be a formality for Venus, who had won seven of their previous eight meetings, but Rubin took the two-time defending champion to the brink of defeat before finally succumbing 6-2 4-6 7-5.

In front of an appreciative New York audience the two Americans put on a wonderful spectacle.

Rubin promised to attack and she was true to her word. Although the first set was little more than a procession as the second seed romped through it in 24 minutes, the second provided great entertainment.

Rubin stormed out into a 5-2 lead with an intelligent mix of chip and charge and powerful baseline groundstrokes. Williams flexed her muscles to reduce the deficit to 5-4 but Rubin, seeded 14 at Flushing Meadows, held her nerve and her serve to take it in 43 minutes.

The final set started with a flurry of breaks before Williams held and established a crucial lead.

But Rubin came back and levelled it at 4-4. The underdog held two break points at 5-5 but was unable to convert the opportunities and her chance of victory came and went in that moment.

Williams held, came out in the next game and broke herself to claim a thrilling match in one hour 53 minutes.

In the semi-finals, Williams will play Monica Seles, who beat an out-of-sorts Martina Hingis with relative ease 6-4 6-2.

Seles, seeded six, was always in control against the Swiss star who still seemed well short of full fitness after missing the French Open and Wimbledon because of ankle problems.

And, despite some nervy moments in the final game, Seles duly wrapped up the match in one hour and one minute

So, while Venus deals with Seles, Serena takes on Davenport, who was pushed hard before finally coming through against Russia’s Elena Bovina.

The American dropped the first set to Bovina before storming back to claim a 3-6 6-0 6-2 victory.

It was the first set Davenport had lost throughout the championships and she responded in fine style.

The 26-year-old from California is playing in her first grand slam event of the year following surgery on her right knee in January, but she has shown fine form in the four tournaments she has entered since her return, reaching two finals and losing in the semis twice.