An English writer recently described Serena Williams as grand and impassive, like an Aztec idol on which votaries have hung their gifts - glitter jewellery in the thick braids of her hair.
There is little difficulty in describing either Serena or her sister Venus in terms that expand beyond the normal tennis vocabulary.
Yesterday Serena overwhelmed her opponent with typical aggression and with the athleticism that has removed professional tennis even further from normal players. She defeated Emmanuelle Gagliardi, ranked 96 in the world, 6-1, 6-2 in 49 minutes. The first set took just 19 minutes.
She then came in to say how disappointed she was in how she played.
"I don't think I played very well at all today. I thought I made a lot of errors. I lost serve twice, which was really upsetting. My goal is usually not to lose serve, so . . ."
Jennifer Capriati struggled through her third round match against Russian Tatiana Panova, going 4-1 down in the second set and wrestling with her serve before finally pulling the match out Panova's control. She came in afterwards to the media conference and declared that she was happy with the way she finished against a player ranked 30 places below her.
The two players are scheduled to meet in the quarter-finals if they win one more match, Capriati seeded four, Williams seeded five. If they advance they will bring into the match a seething competitiveness and perspectives that could hardly be further apart.
Capriati, who has now gone 17 Grand Slam matches without defeat, and second seed Lindsay Davenport, are the principal threats to the Williams' dominance. Capriati must beat both to win the championship.
Half way to her third Grand Slam event of the year, having won the previous two majors in Melbourne and Paris, yesterday's game was forgettable. But she'll forget it.
Panova broke in the first set to lead 4-3 as Capriati had trouble generating pace off her opponent's slow ball. She scrambled back, won the set 6-4. Going 4-3 down again in the second set, Capriati was again asked to fight from behind to establish control before coming back again for 6-4 to win the match. With that she's content. She's into next week.
So too is 19-year-old Justine Henin. Against American Lisa Raymond, a quarter-finalist last year, Henin took the first set 6-4 with a break of serve before Raymond responded in the second set, stretching the French Open semi-finalist.
Locked at 6-6 the set moved to a tie-break, but a huge forehand from the back of the court caught the 27 year old coming to the net for the Belgian to clinch it 8-6 and go through 6-4, 7-6.
