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Venus advances at Amelia Island
Venus Williams advanced to the third round of the Bausch & Lomb Championships on Wednesday, beating fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: April 06, 2007 04:24 PM IST
Read Time:3 min
Amelia Island, Florida:
Williams has won all nine of her matches against Schnyder.
"I think going to a match for her against an opponent you've never won against, I think that's tough," Williams said. "That probably played a role. She was probably nervous, too. She was hitting some double faults at times when there was no need to."
In the third set, Schnyder gained the upper hand by breaking Williams for a 3-1 lead. But Williams responded by breaking the Swiss player at love in the following game and then holding serve for 3-3.
Schnyder's two double faults in the seventh game were followed by a backhand into the net and a shot that sailed over the baseline as Williams let out an emphatic "Yes" on the service break. It was the last break the 2002 champion needed.
"It was one of those days where I felt I was just a little bit off, and against a player like Patty, you need that extra bit," Williams said. "I felt I was sometimes hitting in the open court too much and that some of the balls were floaters. That's why I went more to a serve and volley attack in the third set."
Williams, a late addition to the tournament, will face Meilen Tu in the third round in a battle of the two remaining American players in the tournament. Tu beat 17th-seeded Martina Muller of Germany 6-3, 6-1.
Jankovic advances too
Earlier, second-seeded Jelena Jankovic routed Czech qualifier Iveta Benesova 6-1, 6-2.
Jankovic overwhelmed Benesova, winning 22 of 27 points on her first serve, including a pair of aces. Jankovic also had little trouble with her opponent's second serve, capturing all but four of 17 points.
"I'm comfortable on claycourts, but I need some time to get used to it," Jankovic said. "I really prefer hardcourts. I need to work on getting my rhythm back on clay. I hope to get as many matches as possible here on clay and play better and better."
Croatian qualifier Karolina Sprem eliminated seventh-seeded Li Na 6-3, 6-3.
Sprem, a three-time WTA Tour finalist but plagued by illness and injury for the last year, broke China's Li four times to win successive main draw matches for the first time since Wimbledon last June.
Li was a semifinalist at Indian Wells and a quarterfinalist at Key Biscayne last week but was run over in her Amelia Island opener by a player with three straight wins under her belt, two of them in qualifying.
Sixth-seeded Ana Ivanovic defeated Peng Shuai of China 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, and eighth-seeded Tatiana Golovin beat Catalina Castano of Colombia 6-0, 6-3 to face a third-round match against Samantha Stosur of Australia, who topped Romina Oprandi of Italy 7-6 (6), 6-2.
Other winners included Sybille Bammer of Austria, Nathalie Dechy of France, and Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine.
Venus Williams advanced to the third round of the Bausch & Lomb Championships on Wednesday, beating fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.Williams has won all nine of her matches against Schnyder.
"I think going to a match for her against an opponent you've never won against, I think that's tough," Williams said. "That probably played a role. She was probably nervous, too. She was hitting some double faults at times when there was no need to."
In the third set, Schnyder gained the upper hand by breaking Williams for a 3-1 lead. But Williams responded by breaking the Swiss player at love in the following game and then holding serve for 3-3.
Schnyder's two double faults in the seventh game were followed by a backhand into the net and a shot that sailed over the baseline as Williams let out an emphatic "Yes" on the service break. It was the last break the 2002 champion needed.
"It was one of those days where I felt I was just a little bit off, and against a player like Patty, you need that extra bit," Williams said. "I felt I was sometimes hitting in the open court too much and that some of the balls were floaters. That's why I went more to a serve and volley attack in the third set."
Williams, a late addition to the tournament, will face Meilen Tu in the third round in a battle of the two remaining American players in the tournament. Tu beat 17th-seeded Martina Muller of Germany 6-3, 6-1.
Jankovic advances too
Earlier, second-seeded Jelena Jankovic routed Czech qualifier Iveta Benesova 6-1, 6-2.
Jankovic overwhelmed Benesova, winning 22 of 27 points on her first serve, including a pair of aces. Jankovic also had little trouble with her opponent's second serve, capturing all but four of 17 points.
"I'm comfortable on claycourts, but I need some time to get used to it," Jankovic said. "I really prefer hardcourts. I need to work on getting my rhythm back on clay. I hope to get as many matches as possible here on clay and play better and better."
Croatian qualifier Karolina Sprem eliminated seventh-seeded Li Na 6-3, 6-3.
Sprem, a three-time WTA Tour finalist but plagued by illness and injury for the last year, broke China's Li four times to win successive main draw matches for the first time since Wimbledon last June.
Li was a semifinalist at Indian Wells and a quarterfinalist at Key Biscayne last week but was run over in her Amelia Island opener by a player with three straight wins under her belt, two of them in qualifying.
Sixth-seeded Ana Ivanovic defeated Peng Shuai of China 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, and eighth-seeded Tatiana Golovin beat Catalina Castano of Colombia 6-0, 6-3 to face a third-round match against Samantha Stosur of Australia, who topped Romina Oprandi of Italy 7-6 (6), 6-2.
Other winners included Sybille Bammer of Austria, Nathalie Dechy of France, and Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine.
Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis Andy Roddick Lukas Dlouhy Rohan Bopanna Leander Paes Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi Maria Sharapova
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