It’s been a long rivalry. Both players are 25 years old and they’ve been playing each other since 1997. They’ve both had injuries, one was forced to leave the tour because of them, and they both have five grand slams. The one glaring distinction is the total number of weeks at number one: Martina Hingis was number one for an incredible 209 weeks while Venus Williams was there a pedestrian eleven weeks. That shows you how well Williams plays the big tournaments. Or maybe it’s yet another reason to bemoan what could have been. How many slams would Willams have now if she’d been as dedicated as Hingis?

the women’s tour is so unpredictable that it doesn’t present a consistently good product

While the ATP celebrates Federer and Nadal, the biggest draw on the WTA is the second act of the rivalry between Martina and Venus. That is, if you don’t count Romina Oprandi’s run to the quarterfinals here in Rome along with reporters’ attempts to mention her size – she’s larger than the average player- without sounding fattist about it. The WTA website doesn’t list Oprandi’s height and weight but we do know that Venus has six inches and thirty pounds on Martina. We also know that they’ve played each other twenty times and are tied at ten wins each.

WTA players are injured so much these days, both physically and mentally, that the top spot looks like musical chairs. Kuznetsova has only just recovered from winning the US Open in 2004, Davenport has a bulging disc, Sharapova had a chronic pectoral problem and now has a chronic foot problem. There are nine Russians in the top thirty, Dinara Safina is already in the final of this tournament, but they keep leapfrogging each other. Petrova is currently ranked higher than Sharapova. The men’s tour is too predictable with Federer in every slam final but the women’s tour is so unpredictable that it doesn’t present a consistently good product.

That leaves us with Martina and Venus.

This semifinal match is the second meeting between Hingis and Williams since Hingis returned to the tour at the beginning of the year. Williams beat her in three sets earlier this month in Warsaw.

The first set was a washout. Hingis hit her second serve short and Williams pounced on it to win the set 6-0 in twenty-two minutes. If you’re counting, that’s three bagels to one for Hingis in the rivalry.

Hingis was able to break through in the second set. In Williams’ second service game, Hingis hit every return deep and sent a ground stroke caroming off the baseline tape causing Venus to flail at the ball and totally miss. Williams had a chance to break back at 3-2. Hingis had a sitter and sent it long to give Williams a break point but Williams is still inconsistent, this is only her third tournament of the year. She got a second break point in that game but couldn’t win it then hit too many unforced errors in the next game and went down another break.

Both players hit a ton of errors in the second set but Hingis won the break points to take the second set 6-3 and even the match. Hingis hit a second serve facing a break point at 1-1 in the third set and even though her second serves rarely get above the low 80’s, Williams put the return into the net. I say Williams smashes that return if she can stay healthy and interested enough to get back to her regular form.

In the seventh game of the set, Williams hit a strong backhand shot deep to the corner and followed it with an equally strong forehand to the same spot. Hingis, remarkably, got to both shots. Williams then hit a forehand long and walked a few steps into the court to take a better look. She may have been checking the ball mark but the ball was clearly out. It seemed more like she didn’t believe what she’d just seen. Did Hingis really get both those ball back?

That was the most exciting point in a match that didn’t have many. On the next point, Hingis broke Williams to go up 5-3 and served out the set and match, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3.

People said that Hingis quit the tour after 2002 because she didn’t have the power to compete with either Venus or Serena. Hingis is currently number twenty-one in the rankings and number six in this year’s race to the tour championship – the rankings are based on the last 52 weeks but the race is based on this year’s results only. Still, I’m not convinced she can hit with the big girls. She beat Davenport at Indian Wells but Davenport was already suffering from a bulging disc and hasn’t played since.

Hingis went on to beat Safina in the final for her first title since returning to the tour.

If Hingis does get back to the top, doubtful, or wins another grand slam, also doubtful, it will be because the Williams sisters decide to drop off the map and the younger players continue to drop in and out of the tour with injuries. It was less than a year ago that Davenport and Williams slugged it out in one of the most memorable Wimbledons ever played. Three of the Russians have won grand slams but the new generation has yet to take over from its elders.