Williams Rallies To Win Lipton Title

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 28, 1998 / 5:07 PM EST / CBS Sportsline

American Venus Williams ended the remarkable run of fellow teenager Anna Kournikova of Russia by rallying for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory to claim the women's title at the $4.6 million Lipton Championships on Saturday.

The 17-year-old Williams, seeded 11th, captured her second and more prominent WTA Tour title of the year, as well as a first-prize check of $235,000. She will move from 11th to a career-high 10th when the WTA rankings are released next week.

Kournikova, 16, recorded four consecutive victories over top-10 opponents en route to her first professional final, the first time a female accomplished that feat since the current WTA ranking system took effect in 1987. She will vault from 25th to a career-high 16th in next week's WTA rankings.

After Kournikova breezed through the first set in 22 minutes, Williams forced the Russian into making numerous unforced errors in the final two sets to pull out the victory in 89 minutes in the first-ever meeting between the two rising stars.

Williams broke Kournikova five times and won 77 points to Kournikova's 68, overcoming 38 unforced errors to improve her 1998 record to 22-3.

Kournikova capitalized on four of eight break point opportunities and had 20 winners to Williams' 10, but committed 53 unforced errors as she lost for only the seventh time in 23 matches this season.

Williams captured her first professional singles title earlier this month in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and defeated top seed Martina Hingis of Switzerland for the second time this year Thursday in the semifinals.

Seeded 23rd, Kournikova had one of the remarkable runs in recent memory, knocking off fifth seed and two-time champion Monica Seles of the United States on Monday, ninth seed Conchita Martinez of Spain on Tuesday, second-seeded Lindsay Davenport in Wednesday's quarterfinals and eighth seed and two-time champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain in the semifinals.