By Etienne Stekelenburg
September 8 2002

For the third time this year Serena Williams showed she is almost invincible, she only needed two sets to take the US Open title. Serena showed the family that she is the number one in the family with beating her sister Venus 6-2 6-3. For the third time this year Serena Williams showed she is almost invincible, she only needed two sets to take the US Open title. Her older sister Venus looked unsure and nervous all through the match and walked off disappointed not being able to defend her title. Serena showed the family that she is the number one in the family with beating her sister Venus 6-2 6-3. Serena Williams is the first since Martina Hingis in 1997 to win three Grand Slams in one year. She is joining players like Hingis, Graf, Seles, Navratilova and King with this victory.

With great determination, power and confidence Serena straight from the first game on attacked and almost took her older sisters first serve. Venus had to fight off four break points and did so in style with rock solid winners. Serena in her first serve showed what her plans were, she dominated her sister all over the court with powerful forehands and hitting all the spots she was going for. Venus again had to fight hard to prevent a break by her little sister and took the lead with 3-2. In the seventh game Serena finally broke her Venus’ serve with a well place inside out winner.

Venus had a rebreak straight away but could not prevent Serena taking the lead with 5-4. Venus had trouble serving and double faulted and failed to score on a forehand approach. Serena served for a lead in sets and took the first 6-4. “My serve went very well,” Serena said. “It's been working for me the whole tournament. Once my serve is on, my game goes up a level.”

Venus never found her best strategy to fight off Serena and had to face an unleashed champion. Venus double faulted again on game point and Serena took a 2-1 lead in the second set. Serena’s accurate serves were all over the place and Venus never had an answer for a good return. Serena on the other hand had many good returns turning them into winners. “I just have a method. I just hit it,” Serena said of her return. “Like Andre, I just kind of get it and hit it back.” Serena was on her way to victory leading 4-1 after breaking Venus’ serve again.

Maybe too late Venus, who scored 33 unforced errors and only 19 winners, changed her tactics and tried to outsmart her sister by approaching the net. It seemed to work for Venus after Serena lost her serve missing two forehands. After that little mistake Serena came back even more belligerent than before, her two poor shots had triggered her to step it up a little. She broke Venus’ serve with a fierce backhand down the line on her third match point.

Venus praised her younger sister but could not hide her disappointment. “I did the best I could,” said Venus, “I made a lot of errors and it makes it tough to win. Serena was the best player this year. I have to give it to her. My game went down after the fourth round. I just couldn't do anything to bring it back. After that, I posed and pretended that I was doing well, but I wasn't doing as well as I would have liked.”

Serena, who never dropped a set, ended her sisters US Open winning streak just like she did at Wimbledon. “I was just tired of losing,” said Serena, “Life was passing me by.” Both Serena and Venus now have four major titles.