Tracy Austin

MELBOURNE, Australia - Is Venus Williams finally primed to add an Australian Open title to her sparkling trophy case? And will she have to get by her younger sister, Serena, in the final to do so?

Venus has won four Wimbledons and two U.S. Opens, but has reached the final in Melbourne just once. That was 2003, in the midst of the “Serena Slam,” when Venus lost four consecutive Grand Slam finals to Serena. The Australian marked the end of Serena's run, and it was also their closest contest, with Serena prevailing in three tight sets 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4.

The Williams sisters have the ability to ratchet up their games in the majors and both come into this fortnight better prepared than they have been for previous Australian Opens so it wouldn't surprise if they meet in the title match.

Venus' best likely yet to come
Tuesday night in Rod Laver Arena eighth-seeded Venus kicked off her Aussie campaign with a workmanlike win over No. 61 Zi Yan of China 6-2, 7-5 in a little over an hour. Even if she suddenly lost her range leading 5-2 in the second set, I like the way Venus is striking the ball and moving. The new short hairdo isn't bad, either.

Venus stayed on top of Yan's weak second serve and when she played well she was impressive. But she also made a slew of mistakes. She finished with 29 unforced errors and only 19 winners. Venus' toughest fight came not from Yan -- a doubles specialist -- but from her own inconsistency. While she would have liked to have played better, Venus was not overly upset with her mistakes, reasoning that, “Errors happen. That’s tennis.”

As we've seen so many times before, Venus tends to build momentum during the long two weeks of a Grand Slam event. Who can forget last year's Wimbledon when she looked lost and trailed Akiko Morigami 3-5 in the final set of her third-round match, but stormed back to win and then thumped the rest of the competition on her way to a fourth title at the All England Club and her sixth major overall. The Williams sisters always do it their own way.

Factors in Venus' favor
The key for Venus this year is that she's coming in prepared, she's motivated and she's not injured. Before arriving Down Under, Venus beat Maria Sharapova in straight sets to win a tune-up exhibition in Hong Kong. With much of the talk around Melbourne Park centered on top seed and World No. 1 Justine Henin, defending champion Serena and last year's finalist Sharapova, Venus is coming in a little bit under the radar. Venus is not likely to mind that. And better yet, none of those three major championship contenders are in her half of the draw.

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Indeed, I see little resistance in Venus' section until a potential quarterfinal matchup with fourth-seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, the 2007 French Open runnerup. That encounter would feature two big hitters, with Ivanovic representing the new guard and Venus representing the tried-and-true veteran. It would be a fun match to watch with plenty of fireworks from both sides.

Venus has won all four of their meetings and showed last year she was the better big-match player, dismissing Ivanovic in straight sets in the Wimbledon semifinals and in the fourth round of the U.S. Open. In New York, she was in total control. For both players, this match would hinge on execution.

The winner would likely face No. 2 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the semifinals, or possibly No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze, also of Russia. Kuznetsova has beaten all the top players, but rarely in majors, which is why the 2004 U.S. Open winner isn't considered a major threat to win here. That's what separates Venus from the other elite players -- her ability to lift her game on the most important stages. That's what winning Grand Slam titles is all about. In other words, she has a strong chance to emerge from her half of the draw.

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