TENNIS/AUSTRALIAN OPEN:VENUS WILLIAMS had no excuses after crashing out of the Australian Open in the second round yesterday. The American sixth seed was beaten 2-6 6-3 7-5 by Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, a player ranked 40 places below her.
Williams, who reached the quarter-finals in Melbourne last year, looked in complete control as she breezed through the first set.
But when Suarez Navarro got an early advantage in the second Williams was forced more and more on the defensive, something that does not come naturally to the hard-hitting 28-year-old.
“I wasn’t in control of the points. I definitely noticed that she kept getting the first shot. I was playing defence and I’m definitely used to dictating the points a little bit more. It was kind of a pattern that wasn’t the best for me,” Williams conceded.
“I think she played some really good tennis. She was super consistent and aggressive and just went for her shots.”
It was not the best day all round for the Williams siblings with Serena giving herself only a “D-minus” following her 6-3 7-5 victory over Gisela Dulko of Argentina.
Such was her frustration that the younger of the Williams sisters promptly took herself off to the practice courts.
“I was at like a D minus at best,” she said. “That’s pretty far away (from my best form).”
She will play Peng Shuai in the third round after the Chinese woman defeated qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva 6-4 6-0.
Elena Dementieva has put her good form down to a change in her off-season preparation.
Instead of practising in Moscow, the Russian fourth seed spent the time in Miami and felt it had helped cope with the hotter conditions in Australia.
It appears to be working as she stretched her winning run to 12 matches with a 6-4 6-1 win against Iveta Benesova. Her opponent in the next round will be Australian Samantha Stosur, who beat Sabine Lisicki 6-3 6-4.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal has dismissed those who doubt he can win a grand slam on a hard court after continuing his march through the early rounds.
Nadal has enjoyed huge success on the French Open clay courts, winning the past four events at Roland Garros, and also has a grass-court grand slam under his belt after winning at Wimbledon last year.
He has, however, yet to crack the US Open or the grand slam in Melbourne, but the Spaniard sees no reason why he cannot break his duck this season.
“I have won in Toronto, I won the Olympics, in Montreal and in Indian Wells on this kind of surface,” Nadal said after defeating Roko Karanusic 6-2 6-3 6-2 in the second round yesterday.
“I am always trying to improve on this surface and hopefully this year I will have a chance to win here or at the US Open.”
Standing in his way in the third round is Germany’s Tommy Haas, who Nadal believes will pose his first real challenge of the tournament so far. Haas looked impressive on his way to a 6-1 6-2 6-1 victory against Italy’s Favio Cipolla to set up the meeting with Nadal.
Scotland’s Andy Murray finally got a full match under his belt, taking one hour 50 minutes to defeat Marcel Granollers 6-4 6-2 6-2. Ninth seed James Blake also had a straight-sets win, defeating qualifier Sebastian de Chaunac 6-3 6-2 6-3.
It was also a good day for Nadal’s compatriot Fernando Verdasco who advanced to the third round in Melbourne for the first time courtesy of an easy 6-1 6-1 6-2 win against Arnaud Clement of France.
Clement simply had no answer against the 14th seed who hit 28 winners
Ivo Karlovic’s tournament is over. The 25th seed going down 5-7 7-5 4-6 6-4 6-3 to fellow Croat Mario Ancic in an epic battle that lasted three hours and 34 minutes.
MEN'S SINGLES: second round:(1) Rafael Nadal (Spa) bt Roko Karanusic (Cro) 6-2 6-3 6-2, Tommy Haas (Ger) bt Flavio Cipolla (Ita) 6-1 6-2 6-1, (24) Richard Gasquet (Fra) bt Denis Istomin (Uzb) 6-3 6-4 6-4, (13) Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) bt Guillermo Canas (Arg) 7-5 6-3 6-4, (12) Gael Monfils (Fra) bt Stefan Koubek (Aut) 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-2, (17) Nicolas Almagro (Spa) bt Fabio Fognini (Ita) 6-2 7-5 6-0, Mario Ancic (Cro) bt (25) Ivo Karlovic (Cro) 5-7 7-5 4-6 6-4 6-3, (6) Gilles Simon (Fra) bt Chris Guccione (Aus) 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-1 6-2, (4) Andy Murray (Brit) bt Marcel Granollers-Pujol (Spa) 6-4 6-2 6-2, (31) Jurgen Melzer (Aut) bt Andreas Beck (Ger) 5-7 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 6-3, (22) Radek Stepanek (Cze) bt Michael Berrer (Ger) 6-3 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 7-5, (14) Fernando Verdasco (Spa) bt Arnaud Clement (Fra) 6-1 6-1 6-2, (9) James Blake (USA) bt Sebastien De Chaunac (Fra) 6-3 6-2 6-3, (18) Igor Andreev (Rus) bt Ernest Gulbis (Lat) 6-4 6-4 5-7 3-6 6-4, Dudi Sela (Isr) bt Victor Hanescu (Rom) 6-3 6-3 6-2, (5) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) bt Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (9-7) 6-2.
WOMEN'S SINGLES: Second round:Carla Suarez-Navarro (Spa) bt (6) Venus Williams (USA) 2-6 6-3 7-5, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Spa) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) 6-2 6-4, (21) Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spa) bt Julie Coin (Fra) 6-1 6-4, (12) Flavia Pennetta (Ita) bt Jessica Moore (Aus) 6-4 6-1, Virginie Razzano (Fra) bt (14) Patty Schnyder (Swi) 6-3 6-1, (18) Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) bt Yung-Jan Chan (Tpe) 6-0 6-2, Samantha Stosur (Aus) bt Sabine Lisicki (Ger) 6-3 6-4, (4) Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Iveta Benesova (Cze) 6-4 6-1, (8) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Tatjana Malek (Ger) 6-2 6-2, (31) Alona Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Severine Bremond (Fra) 7-6 (7-1) 1-6 6-2, (22) Jie Zheng (Chn) bt Melinda Czink (Hun) 7-6 (7-0) 5-7 6-3, Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spa) 7-5 7-5, (13) Victoria Azarenka (Blr) bt Tathiana Garbin (Ita) 4-1 ret, (20) Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt Elena Baltacha (Gbr) 4-6 6-3 6-2, Shuai Peng (Chn) bt Sesil Karatancheva (Bul) 6-4 6-0, (2) Serena Williams (USA) bt Gisela Dulko (Arg) 6-3 7-5.
