Tennis: Venus advances at China Open

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-04 09:07

BEIJING: Venus Williams dug deep to advance to the second round of the China Open on Saturday in Beijing, where she won Olympic doubles gold with sister Serena last year.

Venus Williams of the US returns a shot to Vera Dushevina of Russia during their first round match at the China Open tournament in Beijing, October 3, 2009. [Agencies]

Williams, the world number three and third seed here, came onto centre court at the Olympic Tennis Centre with all guns blazing, but then had to battle back in the second set to defeat Russia's Vera Dushevina, 6-2, 7-6 (7/1).

The 29-year-old American, sporting a hot pink mini-dress from her Eleven fashion line, dictated play on the first night of main draw matches -- for better and for worse.

She punished Dushevina in the first set with heavy ground strokes and big serves, breaking her twice for the easy early lead.

The seven-time Grand Slam winner then lost her concentration in the second set, quickly falling behind to the 23-year-old Russian 0-4 on a series of mishits and double faults.

Williams stormed back, reeling off five straight games including three service breaks to get to 5-4. But again she faltered, allowing the set to go to a tiebreak before closing it out.

"It got away from me. I started making a few too many errors out there," Williams told reporters after the match.

"I was still just focused on winning the set, and focusing on not giving too much more away," she added. "I was just confident that if I kept getting games, I'd make her uncomfortable and make her start thinking about it."

The WTA and ATP -- identifying China as a key strategic marketplace -- have upgraded the tournament here to be a cornerstone of the two tours, meaning that many of the sport's biggest names are in town.

On Sunday, top seed Dinara Safina will face Italy's Roberta Vinci in the first round, while second seed Serena Williams will take on Estonia's Kaia Kanepi.

Maria Sharapova, who won the Pan Pacific Open in Japan on Saturday, has a first round bye in the 4.5-million-dollar event.

In other first round action here on Saturday, French teen Alize Cornet upset Australian 15th seed Samantha Stosur in three tough sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

The 19-year-old Cornet, ranked 51st in the world, broke Stosur in the 10th game to take the first set 6-4, but the 25-year-old Australian veteran, the world number 15, battled back in the second to even the match at one set all.

Cornet did not fold under the pressure, making just nine unforced errors throughout the match to Stosur's 23 and sealing the victory 6-3 in the third.

Italy's Flavia Pennetta, the 10th seed, fought back an early challenge from Chinese wild card entrant Han Xinyun to win in straight sets, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2.

The pair traded service breaks several times in the first set to bring it to a tiebreaker, during which the Italian used her experience to best advantage, taking some of the pace off and forcing a forehand error to win the set.

Pennetta, a US Open quarter-finalist, took charge of the match when she broke Han for a 3-2 lead in the second set and never looked back, closing out the match with an overhead smash.

Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Austrian Sybille Bammer, 7-5, 6-1, and Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak rallied to defeat France's Aravane Rezai in three sets, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/5).

Serbia's Ana Ivanovic, the 11th seed, withdrew from the tournament, citing illness.

The men's main draw gets under way on Monday, with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick leading the charge.