Venus Williams against Amelie Mauresmo in Antwerp

TeamWTA photo
By Etienne Stekelenburg
February 19 2005

Venus Williams will play against Amelie Mauresmo in the Proximus Diamond Games. Williams defeats Myskina in 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Amelie Mauresmo defeats Alicia Molik earlier today 6-3, 7-6.

Winning the gold racket is still possible for Venus Williams after defeating Anastasia Myskina in three sets. “She played well, I had a tough match yesterday and I had a tough match today. But she is good, she won the French Open and is a top ten player”, Williams said.

In the first set Williams was the much better player and Myskina was having trouble picking up her game. The Russian was 4-0 behind and started to come back to late. After 26 minutes Williams had won the first set 6-3.

In the second set it was Myskina who dominated the game. Williams was trying to hit the balls to early and was hitting ball into the net more than she was aiming for. Myskina did not hit the balls as hard as Clijsters did in Williams previous match. Returning the balls even harder making use of the speed was not an option against Myskina.

Myskina’s service was not impressive and did register under 120 KM on her second serve after her first service landed wide or in the net at 150 KM. Williams had trouble handling the well placed ball and lost the second set 6-3.

In the third set both players couldn’t find a chance to break. The first attempt came in the fifth game when Myskina was at 30-40 but she could not convert the breakpoint.

The first break came in the eighth game when Williams was leading 15-30. Myskina hits a volley into the net and the American is on breakpoint when Myskina hits her second double fault. Williams leads 5-3 in the third set and serves for the match. On 40-15 Myskina is hitting a ball wide and Williams takes the game, the set, the match and possible the gold racket on final day.

Williams’ level of playing was not as good as she played against Clijsters. “Well it was a different match, a different player. I also thought I controlled the match but I also made mistakes. I just felt the last three games were good for me. I was taking it higher and higher with every point. She played a different game and different combination. She has the ability to hit the balls hard. I don’t know if that is what she prefers. Each day is different”.

“The racket is not all there is, there is more in life than the Diamond Games Gold racket. I just want to play the best tennis. It's more about the racket I just want it to be me who wins for my life and for my career”, Williams said.