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CNN Live Saturday

Williams Sisters to meet in U.S. Open Final

Aired September 08, 2001 - 17:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: With that backhand from Jennifer Capriati in the far court finding the net, the stage is now set for an extraordinary women's final in the U.S.Tennis Open.

CNN Sports Illustrated's Phil Jones is in Flushing Meadows, New York, where Venus and Serena Williams are getting ready for a prime- time showdown. And where in the past couple of minutes some news was made on the men's side of the tournament.

PHIL JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes indeed. Big news if you're a Pete Sampras fan because he's just gained revenge for his defeat in the final last year by Marat Safin of Russia. Pete winning three sets, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3, turning the tables totally on Safin, who won last year's final in straight sets in 98 minutes.

This one took a little over two hours. Sampras through to the final. He is looking for his fifth U.S. Open title here. He will play Lleyton Hewitt of Australia in the final. Earlier in the day, Hewitt had an even easier outing against Yevgeny Kafelnikov, also of Russia, not a good day for the Russians. He lost just four games to Hewitt (sic), as he advanced to his first Grand Slam Final. They will play that tomorrow at 4:00 Eastern time -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: Phil, about the Williams sisters, it seems like the women are attracting a lot more attention from the media. How about from the fans?

JONES: Oh, yeah. The women's game has never been better, I would say, in terms of personalities and characters. The kind of players like Serena and Venus Williams, Martina Hingis and Lindsey Davenport, Jennifer Capriati (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and then you've got Anna Kournikova, perhaps not the best of tennis players, but say, compared to those other players I have mentioned...

FRAZIER: Well, who cares?

JONES: Yeah, exactly. But she's -- you know she's the most downloaded person on the Web site as far as athletes are concerned, and has endorsements galore. So it adds a sort of glamour factor to the women's game that hasn't been there for quite some time. Of course the Williams final transcends sport in so many ways because they are the first African-American's to contest a final together, sisters, the sibling rivalry that is there. This hasn't happened in the modern era, so it is an incredible match. How gripping the match will be remains to be seen, because Serena really doesn't match up well against her older sister when they play each other. She doesn't like playing Venus that much, or at least that is how it has gone in recent history.

FRAZIER: We are glad you're there. Thank you for bringing us up to date, Phil Jones. I hope you can get back in and watch a little of the action soon.

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