Wretched final sees Serena win little glory

Jean-Claude Killy, the great Olympic skier, presented the trophies to the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, winner and runner-up respectively in the French Open women's singles final here on Saturday. The thought occurred that Killy never went down hill quite as fast as the match did.

Several theories were advanced as to why, once again, a major contest between the astonishing American siblings, ranked No 1 and No 2 in the world today, proved to be a disappointment, in this case so error-strewn as to be almost laughable: 13 breaks of serve, eight against Venus, who double-faulted nine times in losing, 7-5, 6-3.

The conspiracy theory, that Richard Williams calls the shots whenever his daughters play each other, even in his absence, is wearing thin, although an Italian colleague, Ubaldo Scanagatta, of La Nazione, trawled through his tactical analysis and match stats in support of his argument, and made the wry comment: "If Ferrari can tell a driver to slow down and let the other one win, why not Williams?"

Frankly, neither player slowed down here. Serena and Venus belted the ball vigorously, and with good intent, but the harder they tried, the worse the match became. Venus was credited with only four winning shots, relying on her sister's 54 errors, while delivering 47 of her own. Serena hit 11 winners, two of them aces, and deserved to win for those cameos alone.

"Gosh!" Serena said when reminded about the seven breaks of serve in the first set, "I was thinking that my dad would be very upset at the way we were both playing." Periodic whistling suggested the spectators were not too impressed, either.

Venus, the winner of five of their seven previous meetings, recovered from 0-2 to serve for the first set at 5-3, and lost seven games in a row. She seemed to lose heart after failing to nail the opening set.This obviously was not the norm for a player who has successfully defended the Wimbledon and United States Open titles (her second triumph at Flushing Meadows having been completed against Serena), and is currently the top player in the women's game.

There was, however, only one moment on Saturday when Richard Williams might have influenced the course of events. That was when Venus joined the crush of press photographers snapping Serena holding the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen. Could you imagine her hands on a camera if her snap-happy father had been there?

Lea Pericoli, an elegant former player from Italy, had marvelled at the "fantastic" semi-final between Serena and Jennifer Capriati, but shrugged when asked about Saturday's anti-climax. "For two women to compete, it can be awkward," she said. "For two friends, it can be difficult. For two from the same country, very difficult. For sisters, impossible."

Your correspondent asked Serena if she considered the media and the public were more uncomfortable with the idea of sisters competing at the highest level than they were. "I definitely think that you guys have a harder time trying to figure that out, for us it's just a match. I want to win, and I know Venus wants to win. There you go."

Venus may have come closer to the mark. "The spectators probably don't know which one to root for," she said. "I guess everyone has their favourite player, but when it comes to me and Serena, people see us as the same."

If spectators do perceive Venus and Serena as Williams Inc, gathering the silverware and a total of £780,000 prize-money, as they did here, perhaps they care less who beats the other.

They will, of course, be seeded to meet in the singles final at Wimbledon. "With our style or serving and returning, the grass would really bring the best out of both of us," Serena said. "In a way, it will be a bit more fun." That is good to know.