Serena Williams shows no sign of fall as Williams standing at US Open

Venus and Serena Williams be going on in tennis longer than any of the others who make it populate the sport when they broke in 10 years ago. A decade is an eternity in tennis, in professional sports really. In the span of five hours, on the same court at Arthur Ashe Stadium in fourth-round matches, the hunt for another women's U.S. Open championship took completely different turns for the Williams sisters.

Under a bright, sunny late morning sky Serena Williams breezed through an easy two-set match, beating Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-0, to advance to the quarterfinals. Later under a cloudy gray sky with a wicked wind whipping around the stadium, Venus Williams, gimpy with tendinitis in her heavily wrapped left knee, lost to Kim Clijsters, 6-0, 0-6, 6-4. That derailed a possible semifinals showdown between the Williams sisters, who were in the same half of the women's bracket.

Under a bright, sunny late morning sky Serena Williams breezed through an easy two-set match, beating Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-0, to advance to the quarterfinals. Later under a cloudy gray sky with a wicked wind whipping around the stadium, Venus Williams, gimpy with tendinitis in her heavily wrapped left knee, lost to Kim Clijsters, 6-0, 0-6, 6-4. That derailed a possible semifinals showdown between the Williams sisters, who were in the same half of the women's bracket.

After Venus lost to Clijsters, she joined Serena in a doubles match against Sonana Cristea and Caroline Wozniacki. At least that part of the Williams Sister Act at the Open was still intact.

But Clijsters brought the curtain down hard on the singles portion of the Williams Sisters Show in rather demoralizing fashion for Venus Williams. Clijsters blistered Venus in the first set and Venus Williams returned the favor in the second set. The third set was more indicative of pitched battle that fans had come to see. Williams missed several easy shots, but she seemed to be fighting fate much of the afternoon. Clijsters, who is returning from a two-year hiatus after having a child, became the first wild card entry to reach the women's quarterfinals.

As much as Venus Williams was fighting fate (and a debilitating injury), Serena Williams is operating on a tennis version of Manifest Destiny. Through her first three matches Serena Williams has crushed all the opponents in her path on the way to the quarterfinals and is looking at expanding her grand slam championships to three this year. Serena Williams has already conquered the Australian Open and Wimbledon. And with the No. 1 (Dinara Safina), No. 3 (her sister Venus) and No. 4 (Elena Dementieva) and No. 5 (Jelena Jankovic) seeds out, Serena, the No. 2 seed, becomes the heavy favorite to cruise to a fourth U.S. Open title.

The only one standing in her way could be Clijisters, who despite her absence has miraculously returned to grand slam championship form.