French Open Says 'Au Revoir' to Williams Sisters

Both Venus and Serena Williams lost in the French Open quarterfinals yesterday, marking the first time the sisters had lost in the same round, on the same day in a Grand Slam tournament. Fellow American Jennifer Capriati ousted second-seeded Serena, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, and sixth-seeded Anastasiya Myskina defeated fourth-seeded Venus, 6-3, 6-4.

Capriati didn't mix words after her hard fought victory. "These days, it's not really shocking, you know," Capriati said. "There's a lot of girls that have been playing a lot more tennis than they have." Myskina concurred, "...they just came back. They lost a lot of months. You know, the players kept practicing. Now, of course, everybody believes at least that they can fight with them."

From 2001 to 2003, Serena defeated Capriati eight consecutive times. But she has now lost to her twice in a row: first in the semifinals in Rome last month and now in Paris. She had problems controlling her ground strokes all day and ended up with 45 unforced errors.

Capriati actually won the match twice. At 40-30, Serena hit a backhand in the net and Capriati leapt high in the air in delight, only to discover that her previous shot had been called out by a line judge and then overruled by the chair umpire, Pascal Maria. The point had to be replayed, and this time Serena dumped a forehand in the net.