Venus wins third consecutive title

By Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 7, 2000

Venus Williams beat Monica Seles 6-0, 6-7 (3-6), 6-3 Sunday at the Acura Classic in Carlsbad, Calif., for her third straight tournament title and 15th match victory in a row.

Williams compensated for 33 unforced errors and a poor serving day by lashing 55 winners en route to her 12th career championship.

"I'm playing my best tennis," said Williams, who won $87,000. "There's a lot of things that I'm not doing right, but I'm still winning."

Her problems Sunday included 14 double faults and a first-serve percentage of only 51 percent. The second-set tiebreaker was particularly rough for Williams, who double-faulted three times, including one serve that reached just 67 mph on set point.

But she hasn't lost a match since bowing out of the French Open in the quarterfinals against Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. After that setback, Williams captured Wimbledon for her first Grand Slam title and won the Bank of the West Classic July 30.

All that from a player who was sidelined by tendinitis in both wrists from December to May.

Williams, ranked third by the WTA, breezed through her previous three matches, dropping only 12 games. That trend looked likely to continue as she needed only 18 minutes for the first set Sunday.

But Seles -- who has 47 titles, including nine majors -- began slugging it out with Williams.

Said Williams: "I think I lost focus for part of the time."

A trade of service breaks had the players on serve in the third set with Williams up 4-3. But Seles lost her serve in the eighth game when she sent a backhand into the net.

Williams wasted one match point in the next game, then hit a forehand winner to end the final.

MASTERS SERIES: Marat Safin ended Harel Levy's surprising run at the Tennis Masters Series-Canada tournament in Toronto, overpowering the Israeli qualifier 6-2, 6-3 for the title.

Safin needed only 54 minutes, not including two brief rain delays, to pick up his first Masters Series tournament victory and the $400,000 winner's check.

The eighth-seeded Russian, who upset Pete Sampras in the quarterfinals, struck 25 winners in the final to Levy's 14.

Safin, who consistently hit serves at more than 120 mph, moved into fourth place in the ATP Tour's Champions Race. Levy more than doubled his career earnings with the $211,000 runner-up prize.

He was attempting to become the first qualifier to win this event and the first qualifier to capture any ATP tournament since Spain's Roberto Carretero won in Hamburg, Germany, four years ago.

"I have more experience than he has," Safin said. "It was a question of experience, nothing else, because he can play unreal tennis. When you go to a final ... everybody is talking about you, you're the center of attention, and it is tough."

Levy showed jitters in the opening set, losing service three times and double-faulting on set point.

Safin gained control of the second set with a service break to go ahead 4-2. After each player held serve to 5-3, Safin recovered from a 0-40 hole in the ninth game by reeling off five straight points to end the match.

GERMANY OFFERS BECKER A DEAL: German tax authorities have offered to close their investigation of Boris Becker if he agrees to pay $4.6-million in back taxes, the Associated Press reported.

The Bild am Sonntag quoted the tennis star's tax adviser as saying the tax office in Munich made the offer in June, but Becker has not decided whether to accept.

The three-time Wimbledon champion avoided paying German income taxes by buying a house in Monaco in the 1980s and declaring that he lived there.

But the newspaper said tax officials found evidence during a 1996 search that a Munich villa was actually his main residence.

The 32-year-old German is concentrating on a new career in marketing. He has a news conference scheduled Tuesday in Berlin to discuss his new Internet site.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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