Venus Williams lost in the first round for the first time in four years when she was upset by Silvia Farina Elia of Italy 7-5, 7-6 (6) in the Dubai Women’s Open on Monday.
Williams’ previous first-round defeat was at the 2001 French Open to Barbara Schett. Williams also lost her first match at Moscow in October 2002 to Magdalena Maleeva but after a first-round bye.
Williams, struggling with a blister on her right palm, fought back from 4-1 down in the first set to 5-5, and climbed back from trailing 5-2 in the second to force a tiebreaker, in which she saved seven match points, before succumbing in 2 hours, 4 minutes.
”It would normally have been a quick match,” said Williams, who made 66 unforced errors.
”She really doesn’t have the weapons to hurt me. The blister was really a factor. I just couldn’t serve well and I just couldn’t keep the balls in. When I looked up at the speedometer, it said 120 kph. And I said, ‘Jeez what am I doing here?’ So that was the humor of it out there for me.”
Farina Elia had lost all nine of her previous matches against the fifth-seeded American since 1997.
”I thought the match would never finish,” said Farina Elia. ”She fought back brilliantly. But I was a little tired toward the end of the second set. I am proud because this is the first time I beat her.”
Former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez and rising Indian star Sania Mirza — the oldest and youngest players in the draw — also reached the second round.
Martinez (32) defeated Shinobu Asagoe of Japan 6-3, 6-4, while 18-year-old Mirza beat Jelena Kostanic of Croatia 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-1.
Also, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Montenegro breezed past Paola Suarez of Argentina 6-3, 6-1.
Martinez, who ended a five-year title drought by winning in Pattaya City in January, raced to 5-1 in the first set, and broke Asagoe in the fifth game of the second set.
Mirza, the first Indian woman to win a WTA Tour title this month on home ground at Hyderabad, squandered a 4-1 lead in the first set against Kostanic, who prevailed 7-2 in a tiebreaker.
Mirza, however, regrouped and used her forehand to telling effect to set up a second-round match against US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
”She is a great player,” said Mirza. ”But everyone is beatable and I am looking forward to a great match.”
Leading four seeds Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams, Anastasia Myskina and Kuznetsova received first-round byes.
Earlier, Dubai organisers announced an increase in total prize money from $585 000 to $1-million this week, matching the ATP’s Dubai Open, which ended on Sunday with world number one Roger Federer defeating Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia. – Sapa-AP