Jankovic crashes out as Venus advances

LONDON – French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and former world number one Jelena Jankovic crashed out of Wimbledon on Saturday, while Venus Williams avenged one of her most embarrassing defeats.

Kuznetsova won her second Grand Slam at Roland Garros 21 days ago, but that triumph in Paris must already seem a lifetime ago as unseeded German Sabine Lisicki defeated the fifth seed 6-2, 7-5.While the Russian was enduring a 24th birthday to forget, sixth seed Jankovic was also on the wrong end of a shock result as American qualifier Melanie Oudin, 17, beat the injury-hit Serb 6-7 (8/10), 7-5, 6-2.Two star names to progress were defending champion Williams, a 6-0, 6-4 winner over Carla Suarez Navarro, and world number one Dinara Safina, who defeated Kirsten Flipkens 7-5, 6-1.Venus was unceremoniously bundled out of the Australian Open by unseeded Spaniard Suarez Navarro in the second round in January despite holding a 5-2 lead in the final set.But Venus, the third seed, made amends in clinical fashion to keep alive her bid to become the first woman to win a hat-trick of Wimbledon singles’ titles since Steffi Graf claimed three in a row from 1991 to 1993.Venus once again played with her left knee swathed in bandages but was hardly restricted as she eased past Suarez Navarro in one hour and 21 minutes.The five-time Wimbledon champion has yet to drop a set in three rounds this year and her winning streak at the All England Club has now reached 17 matches.Kuznetsova has never been fond of playing on grass and she lived down to her pre-tournament prediction of an early exit.Lisicki, a 19-year German ranked 41 in the world, wasted four match points before finally claiming the best win of her short career.Meanwhile, Jankovic, the world number one only last August, was knocked out by Oudin, the world number 124. – Nampa-AFP