SYDNEY, Australia (AP) _ By the end of the first set, Venus Williams had Elena Dementieva ducking out of the way.

There seems no stopping Williams, who beat the 18-year-old Dementieva 6-2, 6-4 Wednesday (Tuesday night) to win an Olympic gold medal.

The victory extended Williams' winning streak to 32 matches, and she became only the second player to win Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Olympics in the same year. Steffi Graf accomplished the feat in 1988.

After completing her latest victory in 58 minutes, Williams waved to the crowd, bowed and twirled happily at the net. Then she borrowed an American flag from the stands and waved it with a big smile.

Williams will try for her second gold when she and sister Serena play in the doubles final Thursday (Wednesday night EDT) against Kristie Boogert and Miriam Oremans of the Netherlands.

Like other opponents, Dementieva couldn't cope with Williams' power. In the sixth game, the Russian barely avoided getting hit in the face by an ace.

Williams is unbeaten since losing at the French Open in early June, and her winning streak is the longest since Martina Hingis won 37 consecutive matches in 1997. Martina Navratilova set the record of 74 victories in a row in 1984.

Monica Seles won the bronze Tuesday. The U.S. team lost a chance at a singles sweep when defending champion Lindsay Davenport withdrew because of a foot injury following her first-round victory.

Arnaud Di Pasquale became the first Frenchman to win a tennis medal since 1924 by beating Roger Federer of Switzerland 7-6 (5), 6-7 (7), 6-3 for the bronze Wednesday.

Spaniards Alex Corretja and Albert Costa won the bronze in men's doubles, beating South Africans David Adams and John-Laffnie de Jager 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Dementieva, an emerging star who reached the semifinals at the U.S. Open, started well against the second-seeded Williams. The Russian won the first game and had a point to up 2-1.

Then Williams won 15 of the next 18 points for a 5-1 lead, and she dominated the rest of the way. The serving inconsistency that plagued her earlier in the tournament was gone, and her laser groundstroke winners drew repeated gasps of appreciation from the sellout crowd. Once, even Dementieva nodded in approval.

(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)