TENNIS/French Open:In April of last year Serena Williams attended the sentencing of her sister Yetunde's killer, Robert Edward Maxfield. Gang member Maxfield was jailed for 15 years after Yetunde died from a gunshot wound to the head, sustained when she was sitting in a car in Los Angeles in the company of another gang member. It was a random drive-by shooting, a pointless killing.
Serena stood and told the court what Maxfield had done to her family was unfair and that as Jehovah's Witnesses the Williams family had always tried to give back to communities, not take.
Yesterday the 25-year-old player took plenty, torching Russia's Darina Safina in the first set and then sending her wailing out of the draw after two sets, 6-2, 6-3. On another court Justin Henin was also advancing into the same quarter-final as she beat Austrian Sybille Bammer 6-2, 6-4.
For the first time since 2003, Henin and Williams will meet in the French Open. The history there is very sour.
Prior to this year, Williams had not been to Roland Garros since the Belgian put her out of the 2003 quarter-final after a mean-spirited crowd, combined with Henin's gamesmanship, ensured a bitter departure and no small degree of post-match tears from the American. The Belgian went on to win the first of her five Grand Slams. Williams's loss, amid merciless booing from the partisan French crowd and accusations of racism from the Williams family, ended a 33-match winning streak at majors.
Williams will again face a hostile French crowd when she meets Henin in Court Philippe Chatrier tomorrow. But being four years older, having had a series of serious injuries to her ankle and knee and having had to accommodate the death of her sister has had a marked effect.
"I've definitely grown up a lot, matured a lot, you know and I've been through a lot of things since 2003," she said yesterday. "And just maybe I'm more cynical."
If those experiences make the prospect of a hostile crowd less threatening, Williams is unequivocal. She is now armoured, more resilient.
"Yeah, absolutely. I've been through death. I've had surgery. I've been through a lot. It takes a strong person to be at the bottom of the barrel . . . I was beyond the bottom of the barrel. I was really down there and you know, it's hard to come back," she added.
"Especially when everyone seems to be against you and you have so many doubters and the only people that you can count on is you and your family."
Williams has come back, but won't look back.
"I don't want to reflect on that anymore," she said of 2003.
Henin, serene and fragile as always, has a different view.
"What happened in 2003, it's been one of the best memories of my career. I will never forget that moment," said the Belgian, who has also undergone a life revision.
She has recently repaired the terribly fractured relationship between her father and siblings and herself. "I have contacts again with my family and that includes my father and my brothers and my little sister," she said. "It's a lot of joy."
There is a remarkable strength in both players and because of Williams's lower-than-normal seeding, the two are meeting in what would normally be a final. Williams has eight Grand Slam titles, Henin five.
The winner will have to meet either Jelena Jankovic or the youngest player in the draw, 18-year-old Nicole Vaidisova. Both advanced in straight sets, Jankovic winning 6-1, 6-1 against the injured Marion Bartoli and the teenager beating the oldest person in the draw, 29-year-old Tatiana Garbin.
The driven and now probably fraught Maria Sharapova saved two match points against her serve in an extremely uncomfortable three-set win over Switzerland's Patty Schnyder.
Sharapova's serve deserted her in a third set that lasted 77 minutes but she finally climbed back into the match to win it in two hours and 37 minutes.
The battling instincts were alive and well if her first delivery was not, the Russian second seed taking the first set 6-3 and dropping the second 4-6 before falling over the line in the third 9-7.
Men's Singles
Sunday: Fourth round: (9) Tommy Robredo (Spn) bt (29) Filippo Volandri (Ita) 6-2 7-5 6-1, (1) Roger Federer (Swi) bt (13) Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 6-4; (4) Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt (15) David Nalbandian (Arg) 6-3 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 7-6 (7-2), (19) Guillermo Canas (Arg) leads Juan Monaco (Arg) 6-0 6-4.
Saturday: Third Round: (6) Novak Djokovic (Ser) bt Olivier Patience (Fra) 7-6 (7-2) 2-6 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3; Fernando Verdasco (Spn) bt (12) David Ferrer (Spn) 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 6-3; (16) Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) bt Jan Hajek (Cze) 6-2 6-2 ret; Igor Andreev (Rus) bt Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) 7-6 (7-4) 6-0 6-3; Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) bt Oscar Hernandez (Spn) 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-0 6-1; (23) Carlos Moya (Spn) bt Juan Pablo Brzezicki (Arg) 6-1 6-3 7-5; (14) Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt (20) Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) 1-6 6-3 7-5 6-2; (2) Rafael Nadal (Spn) bt Albert Montanes (Spn) 6-1 6-3 6-2.
Women's Singles
Sunday: Fourth round: (8) Serena Williams (USA) bt (10) Dinara Safina (Rus) 6-2 6-3; (6) Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) bt (19) Tathiana Garbin (Ita) 6-3 6-1; (1) Justine Henin (Bel) bt (20) Sybille Bammer (Aut) 6-2 6-4; (4) Jelena Jankovic (Ser) bt (18) Marion Bartoli (Fra) 6-1 6-1; (7) Ana Ivanovic (Ser) bt (24) Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spn) 6-3 3-6 6-3; (9) Anna Chakvetadze (Rus) bt (25) Lucie Safarova (Cze) 6-4 0-6 6-2; (3) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt (15) Shahar Peer (Isr) 6-4 6-3; (2) Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt (14) Patty Schnyder (Swi) 3-6 6-4 9-7
Saturday: Third Round: Ivanovic bt Raluca Olaru (Rom) 6-2 6-0; Medina Garrigues bt (12) Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 7-5; Peer bt (17) Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) 6-1 4-6 6-3; Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) 6-2 6-3; Safarova (Cze) bt (5) Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) 6-3 7-6 (7-3); Chakvetadze (Rus) bt (21) Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) 6-4 6-4; Schnyder (Swi) bt Karin Knapp (Ita) 6-1 4-6 7-5; Sharapova (Rus) bt Alla Kudryavtseva (Rus) 6-1 6-4.
