Venus Williams moved one step closer to completing a golden season in style by beating fellow-American Monica Seles 6-1 4-6 6-3 on Monday to reach the final of the Olympic tennis tournament. Williams defeated Seles to extend her winning streak to 31 -- a run that has brought her the Wimbledon and US Open crowns and now has taken her to within one victory of claiming Olympic gold.
The second-seeded Williams will meet the winner of Monday's other semifinal between 10th-seeded Elena Dementieva and unseeded Australian Jelena Dokic.
Seles, the third seed, will play the loser of the Dementieva-Dokic match for the bronze.
''This is kind of a once in a lifetime thing,'' Williams said of her pursuit of the gold.
''You don't have that much time in your life to win a medal. It's probably bigger than a grand slam.''
On the men's side, France's unseeded Arnaud Di Pasquale routed eighth-seeded Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2 6-1 to reach the semifinals.
Di Pasquale will meet the winner of the match between second seed Gustavo Kuerten of brazil and fifth-seeded Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
The 20-year-old Williams dominated Seles in the opening set, taking only 18 minutes to win it and dropping just eight points against her serve.
''To serve like she did in the first set, at 170 kph (106 mph), she was too good,'' said Seles, who has lost all five matches she has played against Williams, including two earlier this year. ''It's discouraging.''
Bureau Report