Good news travels fast in the Williams household, with debutant Venus hyped up about this week’s China Open after glowing reports on the event from her 2004 defending champion sister Serena.
”It’s become a legend in our house, it’s hard to separate myth from reality about this tournament,” said treble Wimbledon winner Venus, who arrived in the Chinese capital from South Korea on Tuesday and was immediately taken to the tennis site.
”Serena has told me about how great it is here, I’m so excited about playing.”
While neither sister can boast the top ranking at the Beijing tennis centre — that honour goes to Maria Sharapova — the pair seem to be benefiting from a wave of public admiration first felt by Serena when she beat Svetlana Kuznetsova for last year’s inaugural trophy.
Serena, who takes the fourth seeding behind her number three elder sister, added: ”It’s great to be back in Beijing. I came here last year and just had the time of my life.
”I loved the tournament, I loved the city and I loved the people. It was a long way for me to travel but the people here really made me feel welcome.”
After arriving at the weekend — Venus stopped off for some top-up prize money as she won an exhibition match in Seoul over Sharapova on Monday — Serena and her mother were taken to the Great Wall.
While Serena nipped out for a handful of publicity shots which were flashed around the world, her mum chose to stay in the car at the base of one of the world’s most iconic structures.
Venus will begin play in the second round of the $585 000 tournament after the bye awarded to leading seeds as she faces Spain’s Nuria Llagostera Vives, who defeated Russian Alina Jidkova 2-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7/5).
In another early first-round match on a day of occasional drizzle, Aiko Nakamura became the second Japanese player through with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Italian Flavia Pennetta.
Venus said that she is hoping to build upon the momentum she picked up by completing her Wimbledon trophy hat trick last summer.
But her pace was slowed at the US Open where she lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Kim Clijsters after beating a sluggish Serena in the fourth round.
”It takes a lot of hard work to win titles,” said Venus. ”But it’s really worth it — people are always talking to me about Wimbledon.
”I’m just looking forward to more, I want to win another title — starting here in Beijing.”
Thanks to the luck of the draw, if the sister act were to meet, it could only come in the Sunday final. Venus is due to open against the winner from China’s Sun Tiantian and Russian Tatiana Panova. – AFP
