Wimbledon semi-finalist Kirsten Flipkens shook off a slow start to beat Venus Williams 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Tuesday at the Rogers Cup, spoiling the seven-time Grand Slam champion’s return from injury.
Williams, sidelined by a lower back injury since her first-round French Open exit in May, was quick out of the blocks, pocketing the first set in half an hour.
However, Flipkens leveled the match with a break in the 10th game of the second frame, and once the 13th-seeded Belgian had forced the third set, it was Williams who could not keep pace.
Photo: Reuters
Flipkens, who has been nursing a right knee injury herself and had not played since falling in the Wimbledon semi-finals to eventual champion Marion Bartoli of France, raced to a 5-0 lead in the third, before Williams managed to hold serve.
Flipkens then surrendered a break, but broke Williams to seal the win and book a second-round match in Toronto with Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens.
Williams said the ease with which she won the first set may actually have hurt her.
Photo: AFP
“I wasn’t expecting to play that well in the first set, so I think in the second, I just didn’t handle it well,” Williams said. “Then I got down in the third ... I didn’t make the best choices out there all the time.”
Williams said she had only started practicing her serve more in the last week, and she expects it to improve before the US Open begins later this month.
“Definitely today my service games I didn’t feel like myself, because usually I step up to the line, I go for it a lot. I didn’t really feel like I could do that today,” said Williams, who also praised Flipkens for hanging in.
“She definitely showed a lot of resilience by fighting back,” Williams said. “It’s never easy to lose a 6-0 set and come back.”
Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova became the first player to reach the third round of the US$2.37 million tournament, shaking off a dismal first-set tiebreaker to upset eighth-seeded German Angelique Kerber 6-7 (0/7), 6-2, 7-5.
“It was a really tough match,” Cibulkova said. “Angelique, she’s putting everything back. Her defensive game is really good, and I just had to be patient and aggressive today. So it was not easy. My serve was not working like I was expecting, but in the end I made it, so I was really happy.”
Cibulkova won the title at Stanford two weeks ago, but suffered an early exit last week in Carlsbad.
After squandering a series of set points in the first set, she said she “lost herself” in the tie breaker.
However, after forcing the decisive third set, she was able to find the right balance of steadiness and aggression.
“I fought back from the 4-1 down in the third set, but it’s never easy,” she said. “You have to go for it. Then when you make some mistakes, then you get a little bit nervous.”
In the day’s other second-round contest, third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-2, 6-3.
In other first-round action, 11th-seeded Maria Kirilenko and 16th-seeded Ana Ivanovic advanced. Russia’s Kirilenko beat Croatian qualifier Petra Martic 6-2, 6-1, while Serbian Ivanovic beat Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei 6-1, 6-2.
Italy’s Francesca Schiavone defeated South African Chanelle Scheepers 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to set up a second-round meeting with world No. 1 and top seed Serena Williams.
Meanwhile, American Lauren Davis beat former Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 to earn a second-round clash with Bartoli, who is seeded seventh.
In the first round of doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Eva Hrdinova of the Czech Republic defeated Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Varvara Lepchenko of the US 6-2, 6-3.
Additional reporting by staff writer
MONTREAL MASTERS
AFP, MONTREAL
Novak Djokovic returned to competition after a post-Wimbledon pause on Tuesday and coasted into the third round at the ATP Montreal Masters.
The Serb world No. 1 easily defeated Florian Mayer 6-2, 6-1, then proceeded to dance with a tennis ball mascot with choreography he said he and friends worked out last month on holiday in Croatia.
Mayer double-faulted to lose the 29-minute opening set and never made an impression on the top seed.
“After a month off, I didn’t know what to expect,” said Djokovic, who lost the Wimbledon final to Andy Murray. “I was extra careful against a tough opponent. I’m keeping my mind-set of step-by-step, one match at a time. I needed extra commitment from the start and everything went well on court. I’m looking forward going into the US Open, even if I’m defending a lot of points — it’s not the first time for that.”
Djokovic, champion in 2007, 2011 and last year, won his 11th straight match in Canada and stretched is career lead over Mayer to 5-0.
He now stands 40-6 on the season as he seeks his 15th career Masters 1000 trophy.
It was a historic days for locals, with four first-round victories ensuring a record-equaling five Canadians in the second round. The last time that happened was 1972, when some had byes.
Vasek Pospisil produced the most dramatic victory as he powered to a 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) win over John Isner to send the big American back across the border.
Isner’s defeat means the US will have no man in the top 20 for the first time since the ATP rankings began 40 years ago.
Pospisil, the No. 71 who claimed a Challenger title at the weekend in Vancouver, led the home charge, which also included wins for wild cards Filip Peliwo and Frank Dancevic.
They joined Jesse Levine, who advanced on Monday.
Canadian No. 1 Milos Raonic, the 13th seed who has been struggling, needed to work to get past Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
Pospisil’s win, in two-and-a-half hours, gave him a 2-1 career lead over Isner, a semi-finalist in this tournament last year.
“This is such a win, I really believed in myself today,” Pospisil said. “It was an extremely tough match, especially with his huge serve, but I had confidence from Vancouver.”
In the other Canadian matches, last year’s double junior Grand Slam winner Peliwo won his Montreal senior debut, saving a match point in the second set and advancing as Finn Jarkko Nieminen retired with hamstring trouble while trailing 3-6, 7-5, 3-1.
Dancevic also had to rally for a 5-7, 7-6 (8/6), 6-1 victory over Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun.
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