Venus Williams survived a stiff test from unseeded Czech Lucie Safarova to move into the Italian Open third round with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win on Monday.
The US fourth seed, who had a bye into the second round, unleashed eight aces as she sauntered through the first set.
But the 22-year-old Czech, ranked 49th, was much more of a handful after that.
She broke in the third game of the second set with a fine backhand return and Venus, the 1999 champion here, had to save a break point in the fifth. Safarova held serve with relative ease to force a deciding set.
Venus had to save four more break points before getting the decisive break in the fourth game with the help of an emphatic volley.
The sixth-seeded Belarusian Victoria Azarenka had a simpler route into the third round when her opponent, Japanese qualifier Ayumi Morita, retired after losing the first set to love.
Last-year’s runner-up Alize Cornet, seeded 13th, repelled a fightback by Japan’s Ai Sugiyama to progress into the second round 6-3, 7-5.
France’s Cornet took the last two games to clinch the match after Sugiyama had pulled back from 4-1 to 5-5 in the second set.
Danish ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki overwhelmed Hungary’s Agnes Szavay 6-3, 6-2 and Russian Anna Chakvetadze overcame shaky recent form to oust Spanish 15th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-2, 6-3.
Russian world No. 1 Dinara Safina’s first opponent will be France’s Virginie Razzano, who edged past Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova 6-0, 6-7, 6-4.
■ESTORIL OPEN
AFP, ESTORIL, PORTUGAL
Argentina’s two-time French Open semi-finalist David Nalbandian faces a fight to be fit for this year’s renewal as he is struggling with a hip injury.
The 27-year-old was thumped 6-2, 6-2 by Chile’s Paul Capdeville at the ATP tournament on Monday, with Nalbandian frustrated after hurting his hip little more than a week ago in Barcelona.
All he can do now prior to a possible start next Monday at the new Madrid Masters on clay is undergo more physio.
In the women’s draw top seed Iveta Benesova put out Nueza Silva of Portugal 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, while German eighth Anna-Lena Groenefeld advanced over France’s Pauline Parmentier 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/1).
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but