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(Adds more results) By Bill Barclay NEW YORK, Sept 2 - The sporting world's most
extraordinary sibling rivalry will be revived this weekend
after Venus and Serena Williams won their third-round matches
at the U.S. Open on Friday. The two American sisters will meet on home turf in the last
16 on Sunday after Serena beat Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-3
6-4 and Venus won 6-3 6-3 against Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova
6-3 6-3. Almost as intriguing a prospect will be the showdown
between Russian top seed Maria Sharapova and emerging teenager
Sania Mirza, who on Friday became the first Indian woman to
reach the fourth round at a grand slam. Men's favourite Roger Federer was at times tormented by a
French box-of-tricks named Fabrice Santoro before moving
through to round three with a 7-5 7-5 7-6 in a mini-classic. Santoro, 32 and ranked 76, delighted the evening session
Arthur Ashe Court crowd and drew smiles from the Swiss top seed
by playing shots from between his legs, behind his back and
even with eyes averted. "I always enjoy playing against him," said Federer, who
beat Santoro en route to winning the title last year. "He gave
me a lesson the first time we played. "He sizzled me up with his slice and spins. It was a
pleasure to play against him." Australian third seed Lleyton Hewitt eased through to the
third round but Russian sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko and 1998
semi-finalist Carlos Moya of Spain suffered surprise losses. Matches between Venus and Serena are intriguing -- often
disappointing, always highly charged. They last met at a grand slam in the 2003 Wimbledon final,
when Serena won a subdued contest against an unfit Venus. Their
overall head-to-head stands at 7-6 in Serena's favour but Venus
won their last meeting in Miami in May. FAVOURITE ON FORM Only one of their 13 previous encounters -- their first
meeting in the round of 64 at the 1998 Australian Open -- has
come at an earlier stage in a tournament. Wimbledon champion Venus, despite being seeded two places
below Serena at number 10 and despite having lost five
successive grand slam finals to her sister, is favourite on
form, with Serena still looking tentative after knee and ankle
problems. "I think I'm playing okay," said Serena. "I definitely
think I'm getting better and better. My knee's definitely
feeling a lot better." She described it as "extremely disappointing" to have to
play Venus at such an early stage of a grand slam. Venus, on the other hand, yelled at the Arthur Ashe Court
crowd after beating Hantuchova: "Are you guys ready for the
Williams sisters? We'll see you on Sunday." Sharapova, who had dropped only three games in the first
two rounds, beat German Julia Schruff 6-2 6-4 to reach the
fourth round. Sharapova's preparations for the tournament were limited by
a pectoral muscle injury, but she said: "I felt pretty good. I
haven't had that many matches coming to the Open so it's good
to get three matches in before the tough ones come. "So far so good. When the tougher matches come I'm going to
put more power into my shots." Fellow 18-year-old Mirza knocked out France's Marion
Bartoli 7-6 6-4. Mirza has a huge following among the one-billion-strong
population of India and her match with Sharapova, herself a
global tennis phenomenon, could be one of the highlights of the
tournament. "I just came here thinking I wanted to win one round and
won three," said Mirza who is ranked 42. "I'm very happy about
it." They were joined by in-form Belgian fourth seed Kim
Clijsters, who was in unforgiving mood in her 6-1 6-4 win over
Japan's Ai Sugiyama. She next faces battling Venezuelan Maria Vento-Kabchi, who
earned a third consecutive three-set win, beating Israel's
Shahar Peer 7-5 4-6 6-3. Hewitt, the 2001 champion, showed great opportunism to
defeat Argentina's Jose Acasuso 7-6 7-6 6-2. The Australian had
to save a set point in the first set tiebreak against the world
number 44. He faces a third-round encounter with the thunderous serve
American Taylor Dent, the imposing 25th seed whom he beat in
the Wimbledon fourth round this year. "I know what I'm going to get," said Hewitt. "It's never
easy playing against Taylor, but he's going to give me a target
and I've got to take my chances when I get them." Unseeded Thai Paradorn Srichaphan, ranked 51, upset
Davydenko 6-4 7-5 6-3. He will next play Italian Davide
Sanguinetti, who ousted 31st-seed Moya 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-4. Russian ninth seed Nadia Petrova recovered from a second
set wobble to beat Laura Granville of the U.S. 6-2 7-5 and will
face gifted Czech 16-year-old Nicole Vaidisova in the last 16. British teenager Andy Murray ran out of steam in his second
successive five-setter, beaten 6-0 in the fifth by France's
Arnaud Clement.
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