Venus eclipses Davenport to fulfil childhood dream of Big W
Ossian Shine

London, July 8: Venus Williams eclipsed defending champion Lindsay Davenport 6-3 7-6 to win the Wimbledon women's singles crown, her first Grand Slam title, on Saturday.

The athletic 20-year-old out-hit and out-thought the number two seed in a superb performance to fulfil her childhood dream of winning at the All-England Club.

Venus Williams went into orbit when Davenport could not return on the second matchpoint, jumping in the air like an excited child and dancing deliriously around Centre Court.

The fifth seed then climbed through the crowd towards the box where her father Richard and younger sister Serena, beaten by Venus in the semi-finals, were waiting to hug her and share her joy.

Venus Williams is the first African-American to win the women's singles title since Althea Gibson in 1958. She wins 430,000 pounds ($651,500).

``It's really great and I've been working so hard all my life to be here,'' said Williams.

``When I go to bed at night I dream I have won a Grand Slam, but when I wake up it's a nightmare. So now when I wake up it doesn't have to be like that anymore.''

``I can't hold back and this is just how I am,'' she said grinning broadly, holding the Trophy -- named the Venus Rosewater Dish. ``I don't like to miss out on celebrations or a good laugh.''

Serena, 18, had trumped her sister by winning the US Open last year and they are now the first sisters both to win Grand Slam titles.

The Williams sisters will play in the women's doubles finals on the morrow.

The American pair exchanged breaks at the start of the match as early encounters were dominated by errors on Centre Court.

Williams's serve clicked in the third game and she held comfortably, finding a perfect length on her groundstrokes.

Davenport's delivery was still erratic, however, and she was broken to 30 when she fired a forehand long for 3-1.

A series of powerful serves and firmly hit groundstrokes saw Williams stretch into a 4-1 lead.

The fifth seed showed she was not a one-speed player when she threw in a perfectly weighted drop shot in the next game and followed it in to volley a winner.

That, combined with Davenport's second double fault, gave Williams two break points for a 5-1 lead, but Davenport dug her heels in and found some rhythm on her serve to hold for 2-4.

That set-back for Williams was only temporary and, using Davenport's pace, she thumped winners past the second seed for 5-2.

Davenport, the second seed, looked short on ideas as she was sent scampering around court by Williams's clever angles and blistering pace and she had to fight off a set-point to make it 3-5.

Despite losing the first two points of her next service game, Williams imposed her game and clinched the set 6-3 in 32 minutes on her third set point.

Davenport tightened her game, strengthened her resolve and held comfortably to start the second set.

It was the best service game of the match for the champion and it seemed to boost her confidence.

She pegged Williams back in the next game with some big hitting and made no mistake on her first break-point since the first game of the match to make it 2-0.

Williams was stung into action and immediately broke back with a combination of drop shots, baseline winners and powerful smashes.

The 20-year-old hit her first three double faults of the match as nerves again crept in and Davenport took full advantage breaking for 3-1.

Davenport immediately returned the favour, however, throwing in a double fault of her own as Williams broke back for 2-3.

She learnt her lesson from the previous service game and made sure she got her serves into play. One more double fault could not deviate her and she served out for 3-3 with an ace.

Davenport cracked under the increasing pressure of Williams's power play and was broken for 3-4 when she double faulted again.

She refused to fold, though, and struck back with cleverly constructed rallies, wrong-footing Williams to level matters 4-4.

Williams would not be denied and with both players playing superb tennis she again broke Davenport with a mixture of drive volleys and drop shots to leave her serving for the match.

But with victory in sight her brittle serve collapsed and she threw in two more double faults to waste her chance.

Having levelled at 5-5, Davenport pressed home her advantage and won her first sevice game since the opening game of the set to ease into the lead 6-5.

Her serve still a little shaky, Williams managed to hold on for 6-6 and into a tie-break.

Williams grabbed the first mini break when Davenport hit the net with a backhand and she made it 4-1 when Davenport's backhand flew long.

She crashed a serve in for 5-1 and three point later fulfilled her dream by clinching the crown. (Reuters)

Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.