In a rematch of last year's classic semifinal, Venus will meet No. 1 Martina Hingis, a 6-0, 7-5 winner over Monica Seles Tuesday night.
Frustrated with her poor return of serving and streaky attempts at passing shots, Williams was so upset with herself that she felt like heaving her racket into the stands. But the extremely talented Californian bore down in the final set, breaking Tauziat in the set's first game and keeping her unforced errors under control in winning 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.
Despite serving 10 double faults, Williams was able to capitalize on Tauzait's lackadaisical play. While the 32-year-old Frenchwoman was effective in charging the net in the first and second sets, she failed to get her feet moving in the third set and missed a ton of make-able volleys and approach shots.
"I don't feel I had my best performance to say the least," said the glum Williams. "I never get upset when I'm playing but today it was very strange. I was trying hard not to stomp my feet, swing my racket around. I'm not used to that. Some players show their emotion, usually I don't. Today I wasn't able to. That was the main battle for me, why I didn't play well. I was too busy thinking about the points before, not focusing ahead."
Tauziat frequently fooled her younger foe with deft serving in the first and second sets, but like she has many times in her career, lost her focus when the match was on the line.
"I'm really frustrated because I had my best chance and I didn't get it," said Tauziat, who has never won a Grand Slam. "The thing that's frustrating when you play Venus is that like in Forest Gump, you don't know what you are going to get. It's in. It's out. You concentrate on that, instead of concentrating on what you have to do to beat her."
At least Tauziat got a good chuckle after seeing Williams miss her chair.
"I couldn't stop laughing," Tauziat said. "If anyone does that, I'm going to laugh."
Venus giggled about the incident later. "I was just angry, couldn't see," she said.
Tauziat gave credit to Williams, saying that her speed at running down volleys and fighting spirit pulled her through. However, she added that despite Williams 24-match winning streak, she's not a shoe-in for the title.
"She'll need to improve her level," Tauziat said. "I don't think she's going to win if she plays like this."
Hingis -- who had double bageled Seles in their last meeting -- hung another collar around her neck in the first set and won the opening game of the second set before the nine-time grand Slam champion got her teeth into the match. But although Seles found her range off the ground and scorched numerous winners to the corner, Hingis made her opponent work incredibly hard to win most points, running from side to side with abandon and retrieving numerous seemingly lethal blasts.
Seles came back from a 3-5 deficit but Hingis seriously stepped it up in the match's two final games, ripping service returns and wrong-footing her foe.
"I like Monica's game," said Hingis. "It was kind of a little test: is it enough against Monica or will it be enough against Venus in the next round?"
Hingis, who is moving swiftly, has seriously improved her forehand this year and will have to attack Venus from the word go -- something she didn't do at Wimbledon. Hingis was reticent to discuss her strategy.
"The match is not on the table," she said. "It's hard for me to say because it's different. I've played much better since. Wimbledon. So has she. I'll go into this match with basically nothing to lose. She's got to prove herself more."