Venus sets up final rematch with Seles

Defending champion Venus Williams overpowered Lindsay Davenport 6-2 7-5 on Saturday to set up a repeat of last year's final with Monica Seles at the $750,000 Acura Classic.

"I play very well against the top players," said second seed Williams. "It's another level and a challenge I enjoy. When I play the power hitters, I play a little better."

Seles followed up her shock quarter-final win over world No. 2 Jennifer Capriati by defeating No. 1 Martina Hingis 6-3 6-4, giving her first-ever back-to-back wins over the tour's top two players.

"It's really excellent to come back after a match like yesterday and play as well as I did today. To keep my level high the entire match is really satisfactory," said Seles after beating Hingis for the first time in three years.

"It really feels great when you work hard and then you see the result. It's huge."

Behind a blowtorch serve that reached 121mph and searing groundstrokes, Williams was never challenged in the first set.

But, after racing into a 3-0 lead in the second, Williams began to falter as Davenport found the range with her heavy groundstrokes.

Facing two match points serving at 4-5, the fourth-seeded Davenport stayed strong, thumping a forehand crosscourt winner and then watching Williams dump a forehand into the net to make it 5-5.

But Williams kept the pressure on as Davenport served at 5-6, belting returns and keeping her opponent on her heels.

On her third match point, Williams cracked a backhand winner down the line to earn her seventh victory in nine meetings with her fellow Southern Californian.

Williams finished the contest with six aces and 27 winners, against only 11 winners from Davenport.

"She's playing really well right now," Davenport said. "We have similar styles but she's a better athlete. When she's serving like that, there's no-one who can do anything about it. But it's not like I feel like I don't have a chance against her."

In breaking a seven-match losing streak against Hingis, seventh seed Seles played almost flawlessly, serving with precision and authority, cracking winners off both wings from inside the baseline and gamely running end-to-end during long rallies.

Off-Court Workouts
During a five-month absence from the tour recovering from a stress fracture in her right foot, Seles was forced to eliminate running from her off-court workouts and focused on biking, swimming and light weightlifting.

Now, the 27-year-old American is leaner, quicker and more durable.

"The results have come faster than I thought," Seles said. "I'm feeling really good about my movement, getting back a lot of balls that I wouldn't have in the past.

"Before, I would play well in the first set and as the match wore on, my conditioning would falter.

"Nowadays, to do well you have to win two to three matches against top players that are physically demanding. In the past, I could maybe do one but not put more together."

Hingis said: "She's moving better. She looks fitter than ever since her (1995) comeback. She played smart, quick, right, left, kept me on the run and didn't give me too many chances."

Top seed Hingis, 20, went into the match with a 12-2 career superiority over Seles, but quickly discovered that her old tactic of trying to exhaust her rival in long rallies by frequently changing the pace, and by hitting behind her opponent wouldn't work.

Seles, who finished with 31 winners against her opponent's 16, won the match when a discouraged Hingis missed a backhand wide.

Hingis said that she hadn't found her form yet. "I have to get used to big hitters like her because my game is more strategy than just hitting."

The Swiss player added that she was only playing at 70 percent because she had to take two weeks off after Wimbledon to recover from a back injury. "Physically I'm still improving, she said."

Williams and Seles have played five times, with the former winning on each occasion, including a tight 6-0 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 decision here last year.

The Wimbledon champion has been watching Seles this week. Williams is impressed with the way she is going after the ball and said she wouldn't allow Seles to dictate on Sunday.

"I'm not going to let her step out, let loose and have a go of it," said the 21-year-old, who added that she had many memories of watching Seles play when she was growing up and was a fan.

"I was always for Monica," Williams said. "But not tomorrow."