Helpless Hingis overpowered

Serena Williams reached the US Open final for the second time in three years at Flushing Meadows yesterday, making the world's top-ranked player look like an overmatched novice in the process. The 10th-seeded American overwhelmed Swiss top seed Martina Hingis 6-3, 6-2 in 51 minutes.

"It was difficult," Hingis said. "We had a few long rallies. She ended up winning them. I got a little down on myself. 'What do I do out there? I can't go to her forehand and on her backhand she was hitting everything.'"

Williams had not reached a Grand Slam final since she defeated Hingis 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) here in the 1999 title match to become, at seventh, the lowest seed to win a women's Slam title. She could beat that mark here. "I'm back," Williams said. "Today was a fabulous day."

Hingis, who turns 21 this month, still leads the career rivalry 6-5 over Williams, who turns 20 this month. But Williams halted a three-match losing streak to Hingis with authority.

Williams connected on all 17 of her first serves in the second set and won 16 of those points. She also swatted 40 winners past a helpless Hingis, who managed only five winners and just 33 points in the match.

"She just wouldn't miss," Hingis said. "I couldn't read her serve. She was hitting the lines and corners. It was difficult to even reach it. Even if I got there, there wasn't much I could do about it."

Hingis was not won a Grand Slam title since the 1999 Australian Open and has not won a WTA title since February in Doha and Dubai. She could lose her World number one as early as Monday after 203 weeks at the top.

"I don't want to give up just like that," Hingis said. "We'll see. I have got to find the motivation and the hunger just to be winning. I think I'll be hungry again on getting it back. It's a lot of pressure. Let's see if someone else can carry it on."

Williams won eight of the match's first nine points, breaking Hingis with consecutive forehands. Hingis broke back to 2-1 but Williams answered with eight of the next nine points and seized a 5-1 lead.

Hingis broke back and held but Williams finished off the set with a 112 mph ace, a 111 mph service winner, a 95 mph ace and a 106 mph ace.

"Mentally I was too passive," Hingis said. "She just played well, played smart, waited for her chances, took advantage. I was just too defensive. Maybe at those crucial times I rushed too much or didn't play enough."

In the second set, Williams broke in the fifth and seventh games and served out with aces of 108 and 98 mph and a 100-mph service winner on match point.

Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett became the first all-Zimbabwean team to win a Grand Slam title when they ousted second seeds Donald Johnson and Jared Palmer 7-6 2-6 6-3 in the men's doubles final.

The victory marks only the seventh time in history that the men's doubles has been won by an All-African duo, the last time being when South Africans Pieter Aldrich and Danie Visser won the 1990 U.S. Open trophy.

"For all of Africa, this is a huge thing," said Ullyett, who spent much of his youth living in South Africa. "We always seem to play really good matches in finals. And this match, we played really great." The victory gave the 14th-seeded Black and Ullyett a perfect 3-0 winning record in finals played, having also taken the 2000 Hong Kong title and the 2001 Copenhagen honours.

It was Ullyett's first appearance in a Grand Slam final, but Black had competed in the 2000 Australian Open final with Andrew Kratzmann of Australia, losing that match to Ellis Ferreira of South Africa and Rick Leach of the United States.

Black became emotional when asked what his father Don, who died last October of cancer having guided his three children into pro tennis careers, would think of his victory. "I know he would be very proud today," Black said.