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By Joe McDonald

(September 7, 2010) Venus Williams is a master of playing the waiting game. It doesn’t matter if the match before hers whisks along in an hour or plods along for 4 hours and 28 minutes, like Stanislas Wawrinka’s marathon win over Sam Querrey today. Venus is prepared.

"I'm a pro at waiting for my match," Venus said. "Singles, doubles, you name it, I've waited.  I've waited for rain delays.  That's a part of tennis. You know, there is no certain time that the match before you will end, especially like a match like that. So you have to expect that maybe it will go long.  I'm a pretty laid‑back person, so I don't get too tight waiting."

It showed today, as the No. 3 seed moved onto the semifinals with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win over No. 6 seed and French Open champion Francesca Schiavone.

Actually, waiting was just part of the story, when the match started, both players had to deal with the strong swirling winds that have been affecting play during this open. Williams thought it affected her serve a little, but at the same time, it also affected Schiavone.

“I thought, Oh, my God, what are we in for today?” Williams said.  “I'm a strong player and I hit hard, but I felt like I had nothing.  I felt like I was just hitting against...So it was challenging.  I don't think either of us were able to play our exact normal game because it was just hard to make a choice in the wind.  I think you end up playing a little safer, more toward the center of the court.

“But I feel like when the stakes were higher I was able to raise my game.  She did, too.  She played some great points.  She's just so feisty that you have to kind of keep her at bay.”

Despite a now an 0-8 record against Williams, Schiavone said she liked playing Venus, because "I play different ball," she said. "I push her in defense; I don't give her the chance to play how she want, so every time I think we have a big fight."

After getting the first set to a tiebreak, Schiavone was also able to fight back reeling off four straight points after being down 0-4. Ultimately, though Williams prevailed in the set and then was able to easily win the second for the match.

“I think I just started finding a little bit better rhythm in the second set,” Williams said.  “It's not easy to find a rhythm in that kind of weather, but I was trying.  Just trying to get on top of it.

“And, you know, at the end it still was a break to win the match.  But, you know, sometimes she was like shanking, too, and it would just go in.  It was like, Will one of these please go out?

“It just shows the quality.  Like she could still not hit in the middle of the racquet and still make a play.  So it was good."

And also worth the wait.