Venus Williams ended a streak of six consecutive losses to her younger sister Serena by winning 6-1, 7-6 (8) in the quarterfinals of the Nasdaq-100 Open.Meeting for the first time since July 2003, the sisters produced the same tense, sloppy tennis that has marred the family rivalry in the past. But there was plenty of effort and emotion.When Serena lost the first five games, she took an angry swipe at the hardcourt and mangled her racket, prompting jeers from the stadium crowd. “Her racket is actually fragile - powerful but fragile,” Venus said. Then, when Venus smacked a crosscourt winner for a 3-2 lead in the second set, she walked to her chair with a glare, her teeth gritted in determination, while Serena admonished herself. “She’s definitely a little more fiery than I am,” Venus said. In the tiebreaker, Serena pushed a forehand into the net to fall behind 8-9, then sailed a backhand long on match point, and Venus raised her arms in jubilation. Bhupathi-Woodbridge win Fifth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Todd Woodbridge of Australia had an easy outing against their American opponents in the men’s doubles second round. Bhupathi/ Woodbridge beat Graydon Olivier/ Travis Parrott 6-3, 6-4 to enter the pre-quarterfinals, where they play third-seeds Swede-Belarussian pair of Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi. — PTI
