Venus Williams Wins Tiebreaker To Defend Ericsson Open Championship; Climbs To No. 2 In World

Jet, April 16, 2001

Venus Williams survived a long, sweltering match to win the championship at the recent Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, FL, moving into a career-high No. 2 World Tennis Association (WTA) ranking.

With the court temperature close to 100 degrees and the final lasting 2 hours and 24 minutes, Williams beat Jennifer Capriati 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) to earn her third title at Key Biscayne, where she has won 18-straight matches since 1998.

"I was just able to hang in there through it all," the 20-year-old Williams said.

During a brilliant, yet error-laden final, both players were lucky to reach a third set. There were numerous double faults--11 by Williams, 16 by Capriati--and the number of unforced errors was equally staggering--71 by Williams, 53 by Capriati.

When Capriati double-faulted on her final match point, Williams saved that 26-point game to make the score 6-6 and force the tiebreaker.

"I never really felt like I was going to lose," said the energetic Williams, who seized a 6-1 lead in the tiebreaker. "I wasn't nervous at all."

Williams received a warm ovation when handed her trophy and earned $375,000. She rose from third to second in the WTA rankings, behind only Martina Hingis, whom she beat in the semifinals.