Venus Attack Sets Up Battle Of Teenagers Williams Outduels Spirlea To Make Open Final With Hingis

Tennis found its Tiger Woods.

Venus Williams, no longer a curiosity or a teen pumped up by hype, emerged as a legitimate claimant to the future of women’s tennis Friday when she advanced to the U.S. Open final and a showdown against Martina Hingis.

No final in Grand Slam history has featured two players as young as the 17-year-old Williams and the 16-year-old Hingis, and their meeting Sunday could well presage the direction of the game for years to come.

Neither Hingis’ No. 1 ranking, nor her triumphs at Wimbledon and the Australian Open are intimidating to Williams.

“I’ve never been the type of person who is scared,” Williams said. “I can’t let that hold me back. I won’t. This is a chance of a lifetime, a tournament of a lifetime. I wouldn’t be angry if I didn’t win. But I’m not going to go out there and be afraid, because fear holds you back. I won’t let it happen.”

Beads clacking, arms flailing, legs splayed, the tall, gangly Williams became the first unseeded woman finalist in the Open era and the first to go so far in her debut since Pam Shriver in 1978.

In a match as brilliantly played as it was thrilling to watch, Williams showed guts, stamina and a creative flair to beat No. 11 Irina Spirlea 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (9-7). By comparison, Hingis’ 6-2, 6-4 ouster of Lindsay Davenport was a warmup act.

Williams is still a raw talent, inventing her game as she goes along after being trained by her father, Richard, since birth to become a champion. While he’s stayed away - he didn’t even want her to play this tournament - she’s been making history.

“I worked so hard for this all my life,” Williams said. “I get to play on Day 14. Hey, Daddy, I don’t have to come home now because I won.”

Williams convinced her father to let her come four days before the tournament.

“I’m glad I’m here. He’s glad,” she said. “It’s not like I’m going to say I was right or he was wrong.”

Williams has been discovering herself more with each match at this Open, coming up with shots that had never been part of her repertoire - drops of incredible touch, volleys from every angle, running ground-strokes of balls that seem past her.

“I’ve learned a lot of things in this Open,” Williams said. “I’ve learned to put more balls in play, not to go for winners so prematurely, not to rush things.”

What the 6-foot-2 Williams never lacked, though, was a confidence that borders on cockiness, and she’s shown that throughout the tournament.

Spirlea tried all match to beat Williams with drop shots, and few worked. Williams had warned earlier in the tournament that it’s not a good idea to hit drops against her.

“She must not have heard me say it, I guess,” Williams said. “I mean, I’m going to get the drop shot, that’s all there is to it. I love people that hit drop shots on me.”

From her first match in Arthur Ashe Stadium on opening day, an appearance accorded her as a promising black player from the public parks of Compton, Calif., to the last points against Spirlea, Williams conducted herself with a blend of youthful joy and fearlessness.

Even facing double match point at 6-4 in the third-set tiebreaker, Williams didn’t waver.

Hingis’ romp over Davenport - the first of seven matches between them that didn’t go three sets - lasted only 71 minutes and wasn’t a work of art amid the tricky gusts of wind. Hingis displayed all the shots that shaped her near-perfect year - deep groundstrokes, soft drops, angled scoops, acrobatic volleys.

“One side you’re against the wind, one side you’re with the wind. I never felt I was with the wind,” Davenport said. “I always felt she was backing me up with some good shots. A lot of times when she’s on the run, she hits very well because she has such loose hands, such soft hands.”

Nothing fazed Hingis. Not the breezes, not the breaks of her serve in the first game of each set, and certainly not Davenport’s timid attack. After falling behind 2-0 in the first set, Hingis sped through the next six games, breaking her doubles partner for the third straight time to close out the set with a volley at deuce and a forehand crosscourt winner after chasing down a drop shot at set point.

Neither player held service through the first four games of the second set, but then Hingis bore down and showed off her talent and endearingly feisty personality.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: TODAY ON TV Men’s semis: Rusedski vs. Bjorkman opens CBS’ coverage at 8 a.m.