Tennis: Venus ascends to top of world

By PETER CALDER

The sun came back to Sydney on Wednesday and smiled on centre court at the tennis stadium in Olympic Park, after a night of spectacular thunder and lightning had swept the city.

The sunshine was nowhere near as bright as the smile on the face of Venus Williams as she stood behind the podium waiting to have a gold medal hung round her neck.

The 20-year-old, the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win the US Open and Wimbledon titles and Olympic gold, had to cover a grin as wide as a service line as she waited for the medal announcement.

Williams was only briefly troubled by Russian Elena Dementieva, who fired too late in the second set of a match which Williams won 6-2, 6-4.

The long-legged American managed to fire even fully-stretched service returns deep to Dementieva's baseline and, while playing more groundstrokes and fewer volleys than in her three-set quarter-final thriller against Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, hammered the ball with awesome power.

Dementieva's late rush - at 1-4 down, she took Williams to 4-5 before the the coup de grace - prompted a ferocious final response from Williams. Serving for the match, she banged down three of her fastest serves of the day - and double-faulted at 40-0 only because she held nothing back on the second.

"I really wanted to close it out," she said later. "I really wanted the gold. She had started playing really well. She started rifling some shots and caught me a little bit off guard because of the pace of the game."

The rumbles that roll around the Olympic city about whether tennis should even be on the Games programme - though how it might have less entitlement than beach volleyball is anyone's guess - were forgotten as Williams prowled and pounced on centre court.

It was the 32nd win on the trot for Williams, who had to beat off spirited challenges from Sanchez Vicario and, in the semifinal, from Monica Seles. Williams was delighted with the victory, which she sees as another staging post on the trip into the game's pantheon.

"I guess I've graduated to a different level where I can be like some of the greats," she beamed.

With the singles medal safely tucked away, Williams and her sister Serena on Thursday take on Dutch pair Kristie Boogert and Miriam Oremans for the doubles crown. Williams made it plain that victory on Thursday would mean more than yesterday, "because it's with Serena and my family."

Williams said she feared no one now. "I don't think I have any fear. I fear myself the most because sometimes I can get a little crazy, make a lot of mistakes and play badly."

Australian hopes took a tumble in the men's doubles final when Canadians Sebastien Lareau and Daniel Nestor beat the local pair, Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).

It was a sad end to a hard-fought game and one of tennis' great doubles combinations, who dominated the game in the mid-90s, winning five straight Wimbledon crowns and two US Opens. Woodforde retired at the end of the match.

Woodbridge who retired at the end of the match, closed it out with two double faults.