Defending champion Venus Williams was ousted by 17-year-old Tatiana Golovin of France 7-5, 6-4 in the Family Circle Cup third round on Thursday.
Eighth-ranked Williams was limited to only nine points off her second serve, and sprayed forehands wide or into the net on a blustery day against No. 25 Golovin, the lowest-ranked player she's lost to since Mary Pierce at the Athens Olympics.
"I just kept making error after error. It was a comedy of errors," said the fourth-seeded Williams, who played on Wednesday night and then had to play again at 1pm. "It was windy out there and I just had a quick turnaround from the last match and my feet never moved."
PHOTO: AFP
Golovin advanced to play seventh-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia in Friday's quarterfinals. Petrova was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Jelena Kostanic of Croatia.
Justine Henin-Hardenne, who spent much of last year ranked No. 1, reeled off nine straight games against Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic in a 6-2, 6-3 victory. The Belgian hit 34 winners and 10 aces, and will meet top-ranked Lindsay Davenport.
Davenport dispatched Ukraine qualifier Viktoriya Kutuzova 6-3, 6-1.
PHOTO: AFP
"I feel I'm playing pretty well. Clay is not my favorite. But I feel like I'm hitting the ball well," Davenport said. "I'm coming off a win at Amelia Island and I'll just keep trying to be aggressive and hopefully things will work out."
Davenport has lost her last three matches to Henin-Hardenne, but they haven't met in more than a year, and this was only the Belgian's second comeback event from a knee fracture.
In the other half of the draw, eighth-seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland defeated Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-0, and will meet 15-year-old Czech Nicole Vaidisova, who defeated No. 14 seed Shinobu Asagoe of Japan 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2).
Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia, a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 winner over 11th-seeded Ai Sugiyama, meets No. 2 seed Elena Dementieva, who dispatched Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain 6-0, 6-3.
Golovin hadn't met Williams previously, and earned her first win over a top-10 player this year in four attempts.
"I've played against a few top-10 players and been to three sets and lost, so right now was my time," Golovin said.
"I served pretty well, didn't give her too many second serves, just tried to play to her forehand, and keep pressure on her."
Russian-born Golovin has been pegged as a rising star since she reached the fourth round on debut at the 2004 Australian Open. Her ranking rocketed more than 300 places up to 26 by November, in a year which included her first WTA Tour final, and the French Open mixed doubles championship.
Roger Federer, off to the best start to an ATP season in 21 years, extended his winning streak to 25 Thursday with a three-set victory over Fernando Gonzalez at the Monte Carlo Masters.
The top-ranked Swiss star dropped a set but still beat the Chilean 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-4 to improve his record to 35-1 this year. John McEnroe started the 1984 season with 39 straight wins.
In late matches, Juan Carlos Ferrero topped Marat Safin 6-2, 6-4, and Rafael Nadal easily beat Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-1, 6-2.
Federer was leading 6-5 in the second set when a shot by Gonzalez was called out, giving him an apparent match point. But Federer said the shot was in and agreed to replay the point, which Gonzalez then won.
Gonzalez went on to win the set in a tiebreaker. Federer broke Gonzalez in the seventh game of the final set.
"I played well but couldn't close out the match," Federer said. "It's a bit worrying but if I keep on winning it's OK."
Federer will face Richard Gasquet of France in the quarterfinals. The 18-year-old upset 10th-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
`"He looks like a good player. He is similar to me," Federer said of Gasquet.
Gasquet has earned US$18,860 in 2005, while Federer has won US$1.72 million.
"He doesn't have weaknesses," Gasquet said. "You have to stop him taking the ball early and dictating on his forehand."
Federer has won 18 straight finals and is looking to win his third straight Masters title. His only loss this year came to Safin.
Safin smashed a racket and argued with himself throughout his loss to former French Open champion Ferrero.
"I didn't take my chances when I had chances to break him," Safin said. "I'm trying to adapt to clay. Today I came up against a real clay-court player."
Earlier Thursday, defending champion Guillermo Coria and French Open winner Gaston Gaudio reached the last eight of the 2.083 million euros (US$2.7 million) clay-court event. Sixth-seeded Coria beat Alberto Martin of Spain 7-6 (0), 6-1, and No. 4 Gaudio topped Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-2, 6-0.
The Argentines, who played each other in the French Open final last year, could meet in the Monte Carlo final.
Gaudio beat Coria in five sets last year at Roland Garros, but Coria is hoping for a better ending this time.
"This is the objective this season," Coria said. "Every player dreams of winning a Grand Slam and I'm trying to prepare my dream."
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