The much-anticipated Wimbledon quarterfinal between defending champion Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati fell far short of its billing Wednesday, as Williams raced to a 6-1, 6-1 victory in 45 minutes. Thousands of fans were still filing into Center Court when the match ended.

Capriati held serve the first game, but then Williams won eight straight games to go up 6-1, 2-0, and never looked back. She won on a stretch forehand volley, one of the few points in which she had to exert herself. Williams’ semifinal opponent is Amelie Mauresmo of France, who beat Paola Suarez 6-0, 5-7, 6-1.

”When you play Jennifer, you’ve got to come out really strong,” said Williams, who had lost to Capriati their last two meetings. “Since I’ve been playing her, I’ve been trying to come out strong and I always seem to come out slow, so I wanted to come out smokin’.”

Capriati had no answers.

Capriati complained that she was distracted by the media hype surrounding the match.

Serena Williams waves to the crowd after defeating Spain’s Magui Serna in their Women’s Singles match on the Centre Court at Wimbledon, Sunday, June 27, 2004.

A few stats on Serena. Born Sep. 26, 1981 in Saginaw, MI. She is 5’9″ and 130 pounds. Plays right handed. She is currently ranked 10th in the ATP standings. Her sister Venus is currently ranked 8th.

The Rockets and Magic have finalized a deal to send Tracy McGrady to Houston — provided none of the other principal names in the multi-player trade are selected in Tuesday’s expansion draft, ESPN’s Jim Gray reports.

The trade also includes Juwan Howard to Houston, while Orlando will get Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato in return. Of those five players, McGrady and Francis are protected and cannot be drafted by the Bobcats. If Charlotte passes on Howard, Mobley and Cato, then the deal is done, Gray reports.

To make the trade work financially under the salary-cap rules, the Magic would also send Tyronn Lue to Houston, reports ESPN’s David Aldridge. Andrew DeClercq may also be shipped to Houston.

Jeff Fried, Francis’ agent, told the Houston Chronicle on Monday that Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson told him the trade was not complete but was close.

“I spoke to Carroll and it was not a done deal,” Fried told the paper. “It’s close. It’s subject to a few contingencies.”

The New York Times reported that the trade could not become official until July 15 due to a stipulation in Francis’ contract that makes him a base-year compensation player.

In the expansion draft (Tuesday, 7 ET), the Bobcats will select 14 players from existing NBA rosters. Few of those players are expected to wind up on Charlotte’s opening-night roster.

Joe Dumars built the team, Larry Brown coached it and Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton and Co. brought the Larry O’Brien Trophy back to Detroit. Big Ben delivered 18 points, 22 rebounds and three blocks Tuesday as the Pistons routed the Lakers 100-87 in Game 5 to win The Finals, giving Motown its first NBA title since 1990.

The Lakers as we know them will no longer be. The futures of Malone, Fisher, Payton, Kobe are all in question. Phil Jackson said after the game that he might not be back either.

Congrats to Detriot!