Lindsay Davenport, suddenly looking smaller and more than a little frail under the floodlights of the immense Arthur Ashe stadium, stared resolutely at the ground while her opponent, all in yellow, let out a whoop of joy and sprang into the air. Serena Williams had just reached the semi-finals of the US Open and tomorrow will play Switzerland's Martina Hingis, the world number one, in a rematch of the 1999 final which the younger of the Williams sisters, then only 17, won in straight sets.
At least Davenport did not have their father Richard dancing on her grave as he did last year at the Wimbledon and US Open finals, which she lost on both occasions against Venus. But her pain and disappointment in defeat was every bit as tangible: the Williams sisters appear to have her number.
"I think they are both different players than they were a couple of years ago," said Davenport. "Venus hits the ball a little bit harder, although I thought when I first played them that Serena was maybe a little bit more talented or better player.
"But Venus has showed us that was wrong. After Serena won the title here two years ago Venus stepped up a whole other gear." Since then, of course, Venus has won three grand slam titles: Wimbledon and the US Open last year and Wimbledon again this summer.
When Serena led 6-3, 3-1 in the early hours of yesterday it had seemed that Davenport's challenge would be brief. But the world number three, the champion here in 1998, was far from finished. Davenport took the second set in a tiebreaker, survived two match points, and then kept chopping back on the Williams third-set lead before eventually going down 6-3, 6-7, 7-5.
For Williams, victory ended her run of four successive grand slam quarter-final defeats. "I'm tired of losing these close matches - I really, really wanted to win this match," she said. "I had the chance to be 4-0 (in the final set) and just blew it. But I couldn't rewind time, I just had to get over it." And get over it she did, frequently chasing down what appeared to be Davenport's best shots and converting them into screaming winners of her own.
Of late Williams has often squandered good positions, but not on this occasion. "I guess she's getting better at dealing with it," said Davenport. "It was a great match." In fact there were too many unforced errors from both players to make it a classic but there was high drama all right, accentuated by the New York night crowd at Flushing Meadows.
Serena said she kept recalling the words of her sister that champions pull through in tight situations. Williams earned her third match point when she crushed Davenport's second serve with a backhand down the line - though even then it seemed Davenport might hang on, spearing two of her trademark clumping forehands into the corners.
But Williams managed to get both back, and then returned a third successive forehand with her own cross-court winner, letting out the yelp that could be heard above the crowd.
"I should never have been this long. Comes a day when someone gets tired of losing in the quarter-finals all the time. I would like to move ahead three steps further."
Hingis, who had the easiest of quarter-final victories over Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic, will present Williams with an entirely different set of problems. "To beat Martina you overpower her," said Davenport, something she and the two Williams sisters have frequently achieved since Hingis won her last grand slam title at the 1999 Australian Open.
Davenport, who will clearly have to improve her own serving if she is to mount a serious threat to the Williams sisters, added: "Serena obviously has the ability and the game to do that - the only thing is that she has to be careful on her unforced errors.
"It's just how many errors compared to winners she has that will decide who gets into the final." Serena was not prepared to speculate about the meeting with Hingis: "I won't be thinking about the final two years ago. That was back in the past. I hate to tell you but this is a new millennium."
