Williams Makes Her Move To Upper Ranks

Watch out, Martina. Move over, Monica.

Venus Williams arrived in all her red, white and blue-beaded glory Friday night, eager to become the Tiger Woods of tennis.

In her first U.S. Open, the tall 17-year-old with the beaded braids notched the biggest victory of her young career with a 6-3, 6-4 upset of No. 8 Anke Huber in a stellar show of power, poise and near-perfect tennis.

Williams, ranked 66th but moving up fast, could well be headed toward the semifinals as she advances in a quarter of the draw that has no seeded players left. Her next match in the fourth round is against Joannette Kruger.

Andre Agassi, needing all the luck he can find at this precarious stage of his career, stumbled upon two huge breaks.

The first came when No. 3 Yevgeny Kafelnikov was swept out of his path by Australian Mark Woodforde in a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) upset.

The second arrived in the form of a gift from Romanian Adrian Voinea, who patted balls like a practice partner and served like a hacker to hand Agassi a 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 victory in 80 minutes.

In other second-round men’s matches, No. 2 Michael Chang beat Jeff Salzenstein 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4; No. 7 Sergi Bruguera beat Grant Stafford 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3); No. 10 Marcelo Rios edged Kenneth Carlsen 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3); and No. 13 Patrick Rafter beat Magnus Norman 6-2, 6-1, 6-2.

Monica Seles won 6-1, 6-1 against Miriam Oremans. In other third-round women’s matches, No. 5 Amanda Coetzer beat Flora Perfetti 6-2, 7-5; No. 9 Mary Pierce advanced past Natasha Zvereva 7-6 (7-2), 6-1; and No. 11 Irina Spirlea beat Lilia Osterloh 6-2, 7-5.