Serena sheds Venus_ shadow, Agassi, Martin advance to all-American final.

The first Grand Slam seemed destined for her older sister. But it was Serena, not Venus Williams, that accomplished the feat. Serena Williams won the U.S. Open by defeating top-ranked Martina Hingis to become the first black woman to win a Grand Slam title since Althea Gibson in 1958.
It_s not the all-American final most had predicted. New No. 1 Andre Agassi defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov as expected. He_ll face Todd Martin -- not Pete Sampras -- after Martin routed Cedric Pioline in the other semi. Andre Agassi, becoming a regular in Grand Slam championship matches, moved into the U.S. Open finals Saturday and took over the No. 1 ranking. He beat Yevgeny Kafelnikov 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals and will face Todd Martin in an all-American final on Sunday.This will be the third straight Grand Slam tournament final for Agassi, who won the French Open and lost to Pete Sampras in the Wimbledon final.Earlier, Martin made swift work of Cedric Pioline, dominating in every phase in winning 6-4, 6-1, 6-2. Martin is playing in his second Grand Slam tournament final. In 1994, he lost to Sampras for the Australian Open title.Agassi, whose ranking had dropped to 141st almost two years ago, advances from No. 2 and will replace Sampras at No. 1. Sampras withdrew from this tournament with a bad back before play began two weeks ago. Kafelnikov will be No. 2 when the new ATP Tour rankings are released Monday. Sampras will drop to No. 3, with Martin moving up to No. 4.