Venus excited by possible family affair

Venus Williams admits the prospect of a US Open semi-final showdown with sister Serena is “awesome”.

Serena Williams, the eighth seed American, defeated 10th seed Marion Bartoli 6-3 6-4, to open the day’s play at Arthur Ashe Stadium and secure a quarter-final place.

A year ago, top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo eliminated the wildcard Williams in the fourth round.

Williams’ older sister Venus, the tournament’s 12th seed, made light work of number five Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, winning 6-4 6-2.

The 19-year-old Ivanovic did not break Venus once en route to a disappointing end to an impressive Grand Slam season. Ivanovic was the runner-up at the French Open and a semi-finalist at Wimbledon.

“I have to use my serve as a weapon,” said Venus. “It’s important for me to get my first serve percentage up.”

The Williams’ victories means the sisters are one win away from meeting in an highly-anticipated semi-final.

“That would be awesome because it would mean that there would be a Williams in a final as well as an American,” said Venus.

Before that family affair can come to fruition, Serena will have to get past top-seeded Justine Henin in the quarter-finals, assuming number 15 Dinara Safina does not upset the world’s top player during the night session.

Venus awaits either third seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia or 19th-seeded Austrian Sybille Bammer. The two possible opponents meet in the day’s final match at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Serena appears to have gotten past a left thumb injury that began at Wimbledon and sidelined her for the entire hardcourt series leading up to the US Open.

“I don’t have any pain when I hit my backhand at all,” she said. “At Wimbledon I couldn’t hit a backhand, so I feel more confident in my game now that I can do that.”

Despite her better health and increased confidence, Williams still sees room for improvement.

“Each match I feel like I’ve gotten better, but I’m still not where I want to be, or near that.”

Bartoli took the opening set’s first two games from Williams, but then the two-time champion, who won here in 1999 and 2002, held serve and broke her opponent twice.

“Serena elevates her game when she needs to,” Bartoli said. “She started out slowly, but then the level of her game from three-all in the first set was really good until the end of the match.”

Bartoli exits the tournament after her best performance here, reaching the fourth round for the first time in six appearances.

In addition to a more comfortable backhand, Williams had her powerful serve working well to plan.

“The key was to hold serve, especially since she is a good returner,” she said.

The younger Williams executed that strategy, connecting on five aces in each set.

“When you play against someone serving like this, it’s very hard to win,” Bartoli said. “I almost just couldn’t return it (Williams’ serve). When it’s coming 125 miles per hour, I don’t even see the ball coming up.”