Venus, Serena to renew sibling rivalry

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Venus and Serena Williams renew their sibling rivalry Tuesday night absent the fanfare that usually accompanies such showdowns.

They're not playing in a Grand Slam tournament, or even a final. They'll meet for the first time since July 2003 in the quarterfinals of the Nasdaq-100 Open, with Venus hoping to end a streak of six consecutive losses to her kid sister.

"Definitely not the round we'd like to meet in," Venus said. "But in the end, it is what it is."

The matchup was sealed late Monday when Serena extended her Key Biscayne winning streak to 21 matches by edging No. 15-seeded Elena Likhovtseva 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. Less than two hours earlier, Venus advanced by beating qualifier Catalina Castano 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.

In other action, Belgians Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters continued their comebacks from injury.

Henin-Hardenne, seeded 19th and playing in her first tournament since the U.S. Open, reached the quarterfinals by beating No. 7 Alicia Molik 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. The three-time Grand Slam champion had been sidelined by a virus and knee injury.

Clijsters, unseeded and coming back from wrist surgery, beat No. 5 Anastasia Myskina 6-3, 6-4.

Joining French Open champion Myskina on the sideline was fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, the U.S. Open champion. She lost to 17-year-old Ana Ivanovic of Serbia-Montenegro, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo beat No. 16 Karolina Sprem 6-1, 7-5. No. 2 Maria Sharapova eliminated No. 23 Shinobu Asagoe 6-1, 6-2 and will play Henin-Hardenne next.

No. 4 Elena Dementieva overcame nine double faults to rally past 17-year-old Tatiana Golovin 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

On the men's side, Roger Federer blew a lead, missed easy volleys, clanked forehands off his frame and still managed to win.

The world No. 1 survived a scare Monday night and beat Mariano Zabaleta 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 in the third round of the Nasdaq-100 Open.

Federer extended his winning streak to 18 matches and improved to 44-1 since the start of last year's U.S. Open. But he hardly looked invincible against the unseeded Zabaleta.

Six-time champion Andre Agassi hit 12 aces and took barely an hour to beat Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-4.