And wouldn't you know it, Venus was asked about it after her match. First Venus said she hadn't heard about it, but then she laughed it
off. "He didn't tell me so maybe he was venting," Williams said. Anyway American Venus Williams in her first tournament back from wrist
injury Thursday defeated
fellow American Laura Granville 7-6(7-2), 6-4 to move to tonight's semifinals.
Williams served much better in her third match back dispite a shaky start which saw a 120 miles per hour serve called just out, followed by a
backhand hit long as Williams lost serve to make the score 4-3. Shortly later Williams stepped by the pace hitting an overhead winner at
6-5. "That's what I'm talking about," Venus' father and coach Richard Williams commented.
Possibly if you sat close enough to Richard and closed your eyes, you could still tell what was going on: "come on Venus, bring it back,
good try, bend your elbows," Richard said several times during the match. After 52 minutes on set point after a 114 mile per hour serve
down the tee forced a Granville backhand in the net, Williams took the first set 7-6(7-2).
Dispite hitting serves up to 124 miles per hour, Williams hit several errors as well at the start of set two and fell behind 0-3 before
winning the next five straight games. "I'm thinking to myself," Williams said, "'She's not giving you anything. Why are you so generous?'
Still I feel like it was a really good match. Especially from the 0-3 point, I feel like I starting getting my feet in a lot better position which is
so important. I think that made a huge difference."
More consistent play including 120 and 121 miles per hour serves and Williams had ended the match in one hour, twenty-five minutes with a
smile and a trademark twirl and a wave to the crowd.
Venus Williams plays Ioana Raluca Olaru in tonight semifinals in the second match on at an estimated time of 8:45pm CST USA.
