PARIS, 2 June 2004 — The Williams roadshow rumbled out of Roland Garros yesterday after Venus and Serena were beaten in the French Open quarterfinals.
Champion and runner-up in the 2002 final, the sisters were unable to get going on a drizzly, dark day in the French capital.
Serena, winner of that 2002 final, was beaten by fellow American Jennifer Capriati 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in a tense match on centre court. Injured for much of the last year, the last time she failed to reach a grand slam semi-final was at Wimbledon in 2001.
“That wasn’t professional - I was an amateur today,” the former world number one and second seed said.
Venus felt no better after losing to Anastasia Myskina and third seed Amelie Mauresmo was bitterly disappointed after crippling nerves in front of her home crowd handed victory to Elena Dementieva.
It is the first time two Russian women have been in the semifinals of a grand slam since tennis turned professional in 1968. Russian joy contrasted sharply with Williams despondency.
“I am so disappointed I could not at least get to the semis, but what can I say,?” Serena asked. “I mean, I’m alive, I’m breathing, I’m healthy. Things could be worse. But obviously I’m not happy.
“I guess we will both be on the same flight tomorrow,” she added, referring to fourth seed Venus who lost her error-strewn match 6-3, 6-4.
“We’re gonna pack our bags and leave,” Venus agreed. “There’s nothing left for us here anymore. We’re going home.”
Myskina, beaten in the Australian Open quarters in January, will now face seventh seed Capriati in her first Grand Slam semifinal.
In the other half of the draw, Argentine Paola Suarez thrashed Maria Sharapova of Russia 6-1, 6-3. She will face Dementieva for a place in the final.
Capriati, French champion in 2001, was delighted with her victory over Serena.
“It’s about time, frankly, that I won one of these matches,” she grinned. “It wasn’t the greatest quality match. We were both nervous but I just played a little bit better than she did.”
It was not hard. Serena never got going.
She returned to the circuit only in March after an eight-month knee injury lay-off and signs of rust have been evident ever since.
While she took to the court looking every bit a champion - resplendent in a pink cropped-top with a brilliant diamond flashing in her navel - her on-court craft could never live up to her showmanship.
Both started tentatively and rather than the nerves settling, they got worse as the rain-interrupted match wore on.
Having lost eight times in a row to Serena, Capriati beat her in the semifinals of the Rome Masters in May.
When she took the first set it looked like a straightforward victory was on the cards but Capriati fell to pieces, handing the second set to Serena without so much as a whimper.
Back on level terms, it was Serena’s turn to disintegrate and she sloped off court, bitterly disappointed by a dismal display.
“I think this year I made it really tough on myself by not performing and by making a lot of errors and by just not keeping the ball in play,” she said.
“Just basically not doing anything at a professional level.”
Venus can have felt no happier after a very poor performance against Myskina, playing in her first French quarterfinal.
Despite her advantage in terms of experience, it was Venus who fell apart and the sixth-seeded Russian sealed victory in one hour 12 minutes.
“For me, I feel like I was fortunate that I was able to play because I had so many issues before,” said Venus who is struggling with an ankle injury.
“I mean, absolutely I don’t think she beat me today. Normally, against this kind of game, I’m going to really do well against her because she couldn’t really hurt me.”
Ninth seed Dementieva beat local favorite Mauresmo 6-4, 6-3. The 22-year-old, a US Open semifinalist in 2000, was more consistent than her opponent in a one-sided quarterfinal.
