Venus Williams ousted in first round

MELBOURNE – For one set, Venus Williams looked every bit the reigning Wimbledon champion.Then, the rust of a long layoff caught up with her in a flurry of errors yesterday as she was knocked out of the Australian Open in the first round by Bulgaria’s Tszvetana Pironkova 2-6, 6-0, 9-7 in 2 1/2 hours.

“I couldn’t get it right today. But in general, I am playing really well,” said Williams, who hadn’t played at tour level since late September.”It’s just like, ‘Wow, it was the wrong time to hit wrong.”‘ Venus wasn’t the only one to struggle in the season-opening Grand Slam event.Her sister, defending champion Serena, had her own lapses and survived a major workout from 52nd-ranked Li Na of China, who frequently had her breathless from running sideline to sideline.Serena, seeded 13th, was broken as she served for the match at 5-4 in the second set – double-faulting twice at 15-30 – and won only one point in the tiebreak before she pulled herself back together and finished off a 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-2 victory.Reflecting on her missed chance in the second set, Serena said: “Everyone chokes.I choked today.”After that, she got angry.”I felt as if the match should have been over and I shouldn’t even have been out there at that point.”Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport needed a few games to find her groove before advancing with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Australian wild-card entry Casey Dellacqua.Masters Cup champion David Nalbandian was cruising, then had to fend off a gutsy comeback attempt by Thai qualifier Danai Udomchoke to win 6-2, 6-2, 1-6, 6-7 (4), 6-1.Fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova showed no signs of her sore right shoulder bothering her, smacking 20 winners while downing Germany’s Sandra Kloesel 6-2, 6-1.Sharapova said she has seen dozens of doctors during the last six months and has been told the problem won’t get worse from playing.Venus Williams, the No.10 seed, wasn’t sure if she would stick around to cheer Serena.She committed a woeful 65 unforced errors – 41 in the tense final set in which she was broken while serving for the match at 6-5 – to 22 for Pironkova.She seemed to lose her rhythm after bashing an overhead out that would have given her double break point in the first game of the second set.”I just seemed to get to a point there, I just couldn’t pull my game together,” Williams said.”I don’t know what happened.I just was struggling to keep the ball in today.Obviously, she benefited from my largesse.”It was only the third time in 34 Grand Slam tournaments that she has lost in the first round.The last time was the 2001 French Open.”If I had just 10 less errors, I think this match is a different story,” Williams said.”Obviously, she’s a very good player and, you know, she stuck in there.”The 18-year-old Pironkova, ranked 94th, said Williams had been one of her idols, but she managed to put that aside.After a nervous start, she relaxed in front of a packed Vodafone Arena that included a batch of rowdy Bulgarians who waved the national flag and cheered her loudly.”I always loved her game,” Pironkova said.”When I go on court, I should not think about that.I just have to play tennis, and I did.I can say truly I did my best today.”Serena Williams, plagued by foot faults and 45 unforced errors, survived by being her best under pressure, saving 11 of Li’s 14 break points.She fended off two while serving for the first set at 5-4 but couldn’t hold off Li in the second, looking increasingly tired and disconsolate as her mistakes piled up in a near-echo of Venus’s match.Li, who had 23 winners to Williams’s 21, broke in the first game of the final set and looked to be on a roll.But as she has done numerous times before, Serena simply refused to lose, breaking Li three times the rest of the way.Eighth-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, the 2004 winner here, beat Marta Domchowska of Poland 6-2, 6-2.Former Wimbledon semifinalist Jelena Dokic, a wild card in her first Australian Open since 2001, crumbled after thinking she’d won in straight sets.Dokic celebrated a forehand on match point at 6-5 in the second set, but it was called long.Virginie Razzano of France rallied to win 3-6 7-6 (6) 6-1.Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova, seeded 17th, overcame Japan’s Saori Obata 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 and No.6 Nadia Petrova defeated Australia’s Sophie Ferguson 6-2, 6-1.No.9 Elena Dementieva, a semifinalist at the last US Open, was the first seeded player to fall, losing 7-5, 6-2 to Germany’s Julia Schruff.No.24 Tatiana Golovin and No.26 Ai Sugiyama soon followed Dementieva.Golovin lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to Mara Santangelo, and Sugiyama went down 6-4, 6-3 to Conchita Martinez Granados of Spain.On the men’s side, No.8 seed Gaston Gaudio, the 2004 French Open champion, was leading 6-2, 5-0 when Romania’s Razvan Sabau retired with an injured arm.Also advancing were No.7 Ivan Ljubicic, No.11 David Ferrer, No.13 Robby Ginepri, No.16 Tommy Robredo, No.17 Radek Stepanek, No.18 Mario Ancic and No.20 James Blake, the winner in Sydney last week.No.27 Taylor Dent lost to Spain’s Guillermo Garcia Lopez and former No.1-ranked Carlos Moya went down to Andrei Pavel.In the last night match, second-seeded Andy Roddick faced Switzerland’s Michael Lammer.- Nampa-APBut in general, I am playing really well,” said Williams, who hadn’t played at tour level since late September.”It’s just like, ‘Wow, it was the wrong time to hit wrong.”‘ Venus wasn’t the only one to struggle in the season-opening Grand Slam event.Her sister, defending champion Serena, had her own lapses and survived a major workout from 52nd-ranked Li Na of China, who frequently had her breathless from running sideline to sideline.Serena, seeded 13th, was broken as she served for the match at 5-4 in the second set – double-faulting twice at 15-30 – and won only one point in the tiebreak before she pulled herself back together and finished off a 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-2 victory.Reflecting on her missed chance in the second set, Serena said: “Everyone chokes.I choked today.”After that, she got angry.”I felt as if the match should have been over and I shouldn’t even have been out there at that point.”Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport needed a few games to find her groove before advancing with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Australian wild-card entry Casey Dellacqua.Masters Cup champion David Nalbandian was cruising, then had to fend off a gutsy comeback attempt by Thai qualifier Danai Udomchoke to win 6-2, 6-2, 1-6, 6-7 (4), 6-1.Fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova showed no signs of her sore right shoulder bothering her, smacking 20 winners while downing Germany’s Sandra Kloesel 6-2, 6-1.Sharapova said she has seen dozens of doctors during the last six months and has been told the problem won’t get worse from playing.Venus Williams, the No.10 seed, wasn’t sure if she would stick around to cheer Serena.She committed a woeful 65 unforced errors – 41 in the tense final set in which she was broken while serving for the match at 6-5 – to 22 for Pironkova.She seemed to lose her rhythm after bashing an overhead out that would have given her double break point in the first game of the second set.”I just seemed to get to a point there, I just couldn’t pull my game together,” Williams said.”I don’t know what happened.I just was struggling to keep the ball in today.Obviously, she benefited from my largesse.”It was only the third time in 34 Grand Slam tournaments that she has lost in the first round.The last time was the 2001 French Open.”If I had just 10 less errors, I think this match is a different story,” Williams said.”Obviously, she’s a very good player and, you know, she stuck in there.”The 18-year-old Pironkova, ranked 94th, said Williams had been one of her idols, but she managed to put that aside.After a nervous start, she relaxed in front of a packed Vodafone Arena that included a batch of rowdy Bulgarians who waved the national flag and cheered her loudly.”I always loved her game,” Pironkova said.”When I go on court, I should not think about that.I just have to play tennis, and I did.I can say truly I did my best today.”Serena Williams, plagued by foot faults and 45 unforced errors, survived by being her best under pressure,
saving 11 of Li’s 14 break points.She fended off two while serving for the first set at 5-4 but couldn’t hold off Li in the second, looking increasingly tired and disconsolate as her mistakes piled up in a near-echo of Venus’s match.Li, who had 23 winners to Williams’s 21, broke in the first game of the final set and looked to be on a roll.But as she has done numerous times before, Serena simply refused to lose, breaking Li three times the rest of the way.Eighth-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, the 2004 winner here, beat Marta Domchowska of Poland 6-2, 6-2.Former Wimbledon semifinalist Jelena Dokic, a wild card in her first Australian Open since 2001, crumbled after thinking she’d won in straight sets.Dokic celebrated a forehand on match point at 6-5 in the second set, but it was called long.Virginie Razzano of France rallied to win 3-6 7-6 (6) 6-1.Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova, seeded 17th, overcame Japan’s Saori Obata 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 and No.6 Nadia Petrova defeated Australia’s Sophie Ferguson 6-2, 6-1.No.9 Elena Dementieva, a semifinalist at the last US Open, was the first seeded player to fall, losing 7-5, 6-2 to Germany’s Julia Schruff.No.24 Tatiana Golovin and No.26 Ai Sugiyama soon followed Dementieva.Golovin lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to Mara Santangelo, and Sugiyama went down 6-4, 6-3 to Conchita Martinez Granados of Spain.On the men’s side, No.8 seed Gaston Gaudio, the 2004 French Open champion, was leading 6-2, 5-0 when Romania’s Razvan Sabau retired with an injured arm.Also advancing were No.7 Ivan Ljubicic, No.11 David Ferrer, No.13 Robby Ginepri, No.16 Tommy Robredo, No.17 Radek Stepanek, No.18 Mario Ancic and No.20 James Blake, the winner in Sydney last week.No.27 Taylor Dent lost to Spain’s Guillermo Garcia Lopez and former No.1-ranked Carlos Moya went down to Andrei Pavel.In the last night match, second-seeded Andy Roddick faced Switzerland’s Michael Lammer.- Nampa-AP