Rios Advances To Lipton Finals
Marcelo Rios closed to within one victory of the No. 1 ranking today by beating Tim Henman 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 in the semifinals at the Lipton Championships.
Rios lost only five points in the final set, defusing Henman's serve-and-volley game with perfect passing shots. Henman, playing in a semifinal on U.S. soil for the first time, won only two points in his final four service games.
Rios' opponent in the final Sunday will be the winner of tonight's semifinal between three-time Lipton champion Andre Agassi and Alex Corretja.
If Rios wins the final, he'll take over the No. 1 ranking from Pete Sampras. The Chilean, who has won 10 consecutive matches, would become the first South American to be No. 1 on the men's tour.
He has received support at Lipton from a small but noisy contingent of fans from South Florida's large Latin population. They chanted, sang and waved flags as Rios dominated the final set.
On the women's side a couple of cool, cocky kids have turned the top 10 into a bigger mess than a teen-ager's bedroom. Now comes the showdown between 16-year-old Anna Kournikova and Venus Williams.
They'll play Saturday in the final.
"For sure, the youngsters are coming," said Martina Hingis, a 17-year-old who suddenly seems venerable by comparison.
Williams beat defending Lipton champion Hingis 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 in Thursday's first semifinal. Then Kournikova rallied to eliminate two-time champ Arantxa Sanchez Vicario 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Hingis' defeat won't affect her No. 1 ranking, but it shuffles the balance of power on the WTA Tour. Hingis has now lost twice this year to the 11th-ranked Williams, who will break into the top 10 next week for the first time.
"I haven't arrived yet," Williams said. "I'm just coming. I'm on my way."
The same goes for Kournikova, who is ranked 25th and believes she would be higher if not for WTA Tour age restrictions on the number of tournaments she can play. She reached the final by beating a top-10 player four days in a row -- a first on the women's tour.
In order, the young Russian eliminated No. 4 Monica Seles, No. 9 Conchita Martinez, No. 2 Lindsay Davenport and No. 8 Sanchez Vicario.
"It shows everybody that I can play," Kournikova said. "It didn't just happen one time unexpectedly. I proved to everybody that I can play good tennis a lot of matches in a row."
Kournikova and Williams will face each other for the first time. Both hit with power from the baseline and charge the net. The taller Williams has the stronger serve, while Kournikova is more agile.
"There are a lot of changes going on right now in women's tennis," Kournikova said. "It's going to be something different, something new."
Kournikova watched Williams overpwer Hingis in a match more lopsided than the score. In the second set, Williams squandered a 3-0 lead and three match points serving at 5-3.
"I was just much too tight and much too pumped," she said. "After I lost that game, it was like, 'Wow, how could I have done that?"
Hingis survived two match points to beat Williams' sister, Serena, in the quarterfinals. But there was no escaping Venus.
"It's difficult to play the Williams family two matches in a row," Hingis said with a laugh.
The 5-foot-6 Hingis, the defending Lipton champ, conceded that she couldn't match the 5-10 Williams' power.
"She's taller than me," Hingis said. "What can I do about that? I know I can't hit the ball as hard as she can."
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