A day after insisting she was still the best player in the world despite falling from No. 1 in the rankings, Serena Williams lost to Patty Schnyder in her first match at the Italian Open on Tuesday.
Williams, playing her first match in almost a month, appeared to be moving with difficulty at times during her 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 loss on clay at Foro Italico.
“We all know who the real No. 1 is,” Williams said on Monday. “Quite frankly, I’m the best in the world.”
The game did not finish until 1am local time and there was a strange and subdued atmosphere, although the Swiss world No. 20 at least managed to lift herself enough to see off her poor opponent.
Earlier world No. 1 Dinara Safina blasted organizers for making her play on a treacherous court as she reached the third round.
The Russian was initially made to work hard before coming through 7-6 (7/1), 6-1 against France’s Virginie Razzano.
Double reigning champion Jelena Jankovic was pushed to the brink by Argentine Gisela Dulko before going through 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) after her match had been delayed for three-and-a-half hours by a torrential downpour.
But Safina, whose match started after the rain, complained that the weather had made the courts too soft and dangerous, as it was difficult to slide.
“I was just so angry because you can get injured,” said Safina, who fell over twice during her match. “I mean, it’s not funny. They tell us go and play because they think the court is fine, but they are not playing on that court. Thank God I didn’t break anything, but if I broke something, I mean, so many players get injured.”
The top seed will play Chinese 14th seed Zheng Jie in the third round after she defeated Russian Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2.
Third seed Jankovic was far from her best and was forced to stay on court for almost two hours by a dogged opponent who had been a first round loser here in four out of five previous appearances.
The Serbian, the world No. 4, ultimately gained revenge on Dulko, who beat her in the second round in Miami last month.
Jankovic, a former world No. 1, will meet Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko next after she dispatched last year’s runner-up, Alize Cornet of France, 6-4, 6-1.
There were no troubles for fifth seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, who beat home hope Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-4.
Flavia Pennetta of Italy defeated Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1. Caroline Wozniacki and Kaia Kanepi also advanced, while 11th-seeded Marion Bartoli suffered an upset.
■BMW OPEN
AP, MUNICH, GERMANY
Lleyton Hewitt on Tuesday became only the third active player on the ATP tour to reach 500 match victories when he saved two match points before beating Philipp Petzschner 6-2, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (8) in the opening round of the BMW Open.
The win did not come easy for the former No. 1 from Australia, who is seeking to climb back into the top 10 after dropping to No. 55 following hip surgery.
Hewitt, a wild-card entry, needed two hours and 34 minutes to overcome his German rival on a cool, damp day. Hewitt wasted two match points in the second set, then saved two in the decisive tiebreaker before converting his seventh match point.
Hewitt now has a 500-170 career record, which includes to major titles. The only two other active players with more than 500 wins are Roger Federer with 638 and Carlos Moya with 573.
RSS