Venus Upsets Hingis In Lipton Semis

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 26, 1998 / 3:48 PM EST / CBS Sportsline

Eleventh-seeded Venus Williams notched perhaps the biggest victory of her young career Thursday by defeating world No. 1 Martina Hingis 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 in a Lipton Championships semifinal.

It was the second time the elder Williams sister defeated Hingis this year. The other defeat came in Hingis' first match of the year at Sydney in January.

The 17-year-old Hingis, the defending champion, saved two match points in the third set to defeat Serena Williams, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4) on Tuesday.

Hingis, now 19-3 in 1998, didn't suffer her third defeat last year until the Sparkassen Cup in September.

In five previous meetings, Williams had never won a first set against Hingis. But Williams was aggressive from the outset, while Hingis lacked her usual sharpness.

Williams had a chance to eliminate Hingis in straight sets, but Hingis erased a 0-3 deficit in the second set, then fought off three match points before winning 7-5. Williams had 30 unforced errors during the set, Hingis had 14.

On Saturday, Williams will play in the final against the winner of tonight's other semifinal featuring Anna Kournikova and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. Kournikova has defeated three consecutive top-10 players, while Sanchez Vicario is rebounding after a disappointing 1997.

Hingis and Williams met three times in 1997 with Hingis winning all three matches. In addition to her victory in the final of the U.S. Open, Hingis ousted Williams in the third round at the Lipton and in the second round at San Diego.

First prize is $235,000 for the women.

Two quarterfinal matches are scheduled in men's play. Andre Agassi, the 29th seed, meets Jeff Taranago this afternoon in a battle of American players and eighth seed Alex Corretja of Spain meets American qualifier Steve Campbell tonight.

Agassi is a three-time champion of the event and tied Stefan Edberg for the most singles match wins (32) in Lipton history with a three-set victory over 19th seed Albert Costa of Spain earlier this week. Agassi won the event in 1990, 1995, and 1996 and advanced to the 1994 final before losing to Pete Sampras.

The 27-year-old Agassi is continuing his strong comeback from a miserable 1997, when he was just 12-12, including eight losses in opening-round matches. At 22-3, Agassi can tie third-ranked Marcelo Rios of Chile for the best record on the tour this year.

Agassi, a former top-ranked player, who will play on the U.S. Davis Cup team next month, defeated Sampras to win the Sybase Open in San Jose, California last month and also won the event in Scottsdale, Arizona two weeks ago. He is 6-0 lifetime against Tarango.

Tarango ousted sixth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, to advance to the quarterfinals.

Corretja reached the quarterfinal by downing No. 23 Fabrce Santoro of France, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 while Campbell ousted No. 32 Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 7-5. Ferreira upset Sampras on Monday.

Rios, who has advanced to the semifinals, needs two more victories in the tournament to become the first South American in the tour's history to claim the top ranking in the world.

First prize for the men is $360,000.