Serena sees off Capriati to reach final

Serena Williams stole Andre Agassi's show at the French Open yesterday, advancing to her first singles final here and at the same time overtaking Jennifer Capriati as the world No 2 behind her older sister, Venus, by ending Capriati's reign as the defending champion.

Celebrating her elevation, Serena bowed and blew kisses to the spectators, à la Agassi. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In any case, the 32-year-old Las Vegan will not be going through his victory routine here for at least another year, having lost in the men's quarter-finals to Juan Carlos Ferrero, of Spain.

The Williams sisters turned a crowded day on Philippe Chatrier Court into a family affair. Serena won an epic contest against Capriati, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, after two hours and 15 minutes of some of the fiercest rallies ever seen in the female game. Venus ensured that the sisters would meet in tomorrow's final by easing through her first semi-final at Roland Garros with a 6-1, 6-4 win against Clarisa Fernandez, of Argentina.

Capriati extended the competitive element to the interview room when asked about the Williams sisters becoming the first siblings to be ranked No 1 and No 2. "They were pretty good with planning things," Capriati said. "One plays, one doesn't. You would think maybe it was just a little more planning behind that. If you really want your daughters to be one and two, I guess everyone would kind of do that."

While there are several instances of one or other of the sisters missing regular Tour events, there have only been four occasions in the past four and a half years when one of them has missed one of the four Grand Slam championships.

The 26-year-old Capriati, who last season added the French title to the Australian Open championship, crowning a heart-warming comeback from near oblivion as a tennis prodigy, fought tenaciously. She edged the opening set, four service breaks to two, and recovered from 2-5 to 5-5 in the second, forcing Williams to serve to stay in the match at 6-5.

But Williams prevailed 7-2 in the tie-break, Capriati double-faulting on set point. In the final set, Serena converted her sixth break point to lead, 4-2, held for 5-2, and then broke again.

Ferrero became the third Spaniard in the semi-finals, along with Albert Costa and Alex Corretja by winning his first encounter with Agassi, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3. Ferrero has not lost before the semi-finals in the three years he has played at Roland Garros. Agassi recovered from 2-5 to 5-5 in the second set, and Ferrero had to save three break points in the 11th game. He now plays Russia's Marat Safin, who made short work of the injured Sebastien Grosjean, the last French competitor, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, to reach his first French Open semi-final. Corretja will play Costa, a close friend and rival.

Another big winner yesterday was Andrei Pavel, who lost a men's quarter-final but gained a son. The Romanian's 15-hour round trip to Germany for Marius's premature birth will go down in Grand Slam history under the heading, "Life is More Important Than Tennis". As Agassi said: "Credit to him for valuing that more than he does the French Open."

Pavel slept for two hours on a couch in the players' lounge and then played like a zombie during the 11 minutes Corretja required to complete a 7-6, 7-5, 7-5 win. "I don't feel even a little bit sorry that I lost right now," Pavel said, "because I'm so happy to go back home."