 |
|
||
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
   | 
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Venus sets up clash with Hingis
WARSAW, Poland -- Venus Williams earned her first victory of 2006 on Wednesday when she defeated Urszula Radwanska 6-3 6-3 to reach the second round of the Warsaw Cup. The seventh-seeded American, beaten in the first round of the Australian Open in her only other match this year, had managed just one win since reaching the quarterfinals of the 2005 U.S. Open. Williams faces a sterner test in the next round against Swiss Martina Hingis while top seed Kim Clijsters and Elena Dementieva (3) also progressed. Belgian Clijsters enjoyed a comfortable 6-3 6-2 win over Julia Vakulenko, while Dementieva surrendered just five points in the second set during a 6-2 6-0 rout over another Ukrainian qualifier, Tatiana Perebiynis. Wimbledon champion Williams could not have asked for a gentler return to the tour after injury, facing a 15-year-old Polish wildcard playing her first WTA event. "I was really eager and ready to go. It was exciting," Williams told reporters. "All in all I'm happy. You can't ask for too much more. "At this stage every match is important to me, to get a rhythm and start dominating hopefully. "Basically I strained a ligament in my elbow," Williams said of her injury. "It was like a golfers' elbow. It was a really hard place to heal and it just took time. 'Big problem'"I was always practicing a lot but I couldn't serve. That was a big problem, so I had to wait until my arm didn't hurt before I could serve. "I really didn't want any more Australian Opens where I wasn't playing at 100 percent with preparation or health. I just didn't want to come back until I knew I could do that." Radwanska, whose older sister Agnieszka upset sixth seed Anastasia Myskina on Tuesday, competed well but had nothing in her game that could cause Williams any concern. Williams's greatest challenge came from her lack of match play, and she only occasionally showed glimpses of her best level. Her greater power, though, always gave her the advantage, even though she sometimes lacked accuracy. Two aces in the opening game gave Williams the start she needed as she held to love, and a deep ball forced a forehand error from Radwanska to earn her a break for 3-1. Although Williams made a backhand error to concede her own serve in the next game, she broke again to lead 4-2 with a forehand winner, failed to convert a set point on Radwanska's serve at 5-2 but then served out for the set. Williams broke again to begin the second set but Radwanska levelled at 2-2 when the ball hit the net cord and left Williams with no chance of reacting. But the 2004 Warsaw champion broke once more to lead 3-2, and after failing to win two break points at 4-2 she took the match with a further break at 5-3 when Radwanska double-faulted. 
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| © 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
