U.S. OPEN NOTES : This Case Clearly He Said, She Said

NEW YORK —  Venus Williams and Martina Hingis cannot meet before the semifinals at the U.S. Open, an intriguing possibility that will have to wait a week, if it happens at all.

Call Serena Williams versus Hingis something of an early appetizer.

Richard Williams, the Williams sisters’ father, got the ball rolling when he spoke about the prospect of an all-Williams final. When Hingis entered the interview room Wednesday, she was told he was predicting just such a final.

“He always have a big mouth,” Hingis said. “They always talk a lot. It happened before. It’s going to happen again. So I don’t really worry about that.”

The problem was that the official transcript had Hingis saying, “She always have a big mouth.”

Which led to Thursday. Seventh-seeded Serena Williams entered the interview room after an impressive 6-4, 6-2 victory over Croatian qualifier Jelena Kostanic. Her older sister, Venus, also had had a successful day, advancing to the fourth round when her third-round opponent, Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia, withdrew because of a strained right wrist.

Naturally, Serena Williams was asked about the Hingis quote, in a little more than a New York minute.

“That’s just her problem,” Williams said. “She’s always been the type of person--she says things, just speaks her mind. I guess it has a little bit to do without having a formal education. But you have to somehow just think more--you have to use your brain a little bit more in the tennis world. She does that very well on the court. She’s No. 1. She’s doing very well.

“I just don’t have anything negative to say about anyone. It just literally does not pay to say anything negative and bad about anyone.

“That’s her opinion . . . everyone is entitled to their own separate opinion. Obviously, she’s No. 1, so she can say whatever she would like to say. I personally don’t think my mouth is big . . . if you’re looking at it.”

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Apparently, reaching the men’s semifinals here in 1998 was something of a curse in 1999.

Injuries hit all four players: Finalist Mark Philippoussis hurt his knee at Wimbledon against Pete Sampras and wasn’t ready for the Open. Sampras, also a semifinalist here last year, suffered a herniated disk in his lower back during practice Sunday and withdrew Tuesday, flying home to Los Angeles.

At least two-time defending champion Patrick Rafter got on the court. Rafter, who had been suffering from tendinitis in the right shoulder, needed treatment during his first-round match against Cedric Pioline and retired after the first game of the fifth set. It turned out he has a torn rotator cuff.

Finally, eighth-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain, the other ’98 semifinalist, tumbled into the injury abyss, falling by the wayside because of a back injury in the second round Thursday. He lost the first two sets, 6-1, 6-4, to Nicolas Escude of France and retired after winning the first game of the third set.

“I had this pain for 10 days already,” he said. “It got really worse and really bad. But I had two days off, so I thought it was going to go [away]. . . . Today I wasn’t feeling real well, but the second game, third game, I remember one backhand. I froze a muscle and it really hurt. So after that moment, I could not move well.”

Moya’s year has not gone well since he became No. 1 in March. He lost the ranking by the end of the month and has not won a tournament this year. Still, he does not think the back injury is serious and hopes to play within 10 days.

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The only other seeded player who lost Thursday was No. 14 Sandrine Testud of France. Magui Serna of Spain defeated Testud, 6-3, 6-3, in the second round. Defending champion and second-seeded Lindsay Davenport of Newport Beach had little trouble, defeating Ruxandra Dragomir, 6-0, 6-2, in 45 minutes. Dragomir pushed Davenport to three sets before losing last week in New Haven, Conn.

The decline of Michael Chang continued with a rather surprising straight-set loss in the evening session to Frenchman Arnaud Clement, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. Chang’s famous endurance and ability to turn a match around was nowhere to be found.

Perhaps the most distraught loser of the day was Cecil Mamiit of Los Angeles. Xavier Malisse of Belgium beat Mamiit, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (8-6), 6-2. Mamiit held a match point in the fourth-set tiebreaker, but Malisse fought it off with a strong first serve.

“I just needed one good match and felt confident from the first one,” he said. “I was having a lot of expectations to win the second. Got a little ahead of myself and [am] kind of disappointed.”

Today’s Featured Matches

MEN

* Paul Haarhuis, Netherlands, vs. Gustavo Kuerten (5), Brazil; Richey Reneberg, United States, vs. Todd Martin (7), United States.

WOMEN

* Martina Hingis (1), Switzerland, vs. Sandra Kloesel, Germany; Anke Huber, Germany, vs. Jana Novotna (8), Czech Republic; Patty Schnyder, Switzerland, vs. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (10), Spain.