Injured Serena ignores medical advice

CARSON, California (AP) -- Serena Williams plans to keep playing through a left knee injury despite advice from a doctor and her father that she rest with less than three weeks before the Beijing Olympics.

She figures her injured knee "will be old news" by the time the Olympic tennis competition begins on August 10.

The American withdrew from Saturday's semifinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford after injuring her knee. She said that an MRI exam afterward revealed an inflamed joint.

"I've been playing a lot of tennis, that's basically what it is, a lot of use," she said. "I haven't had enough time to train the way I normally do off-court because I'm playing a lot."

Williams, ranked fifth in the world and seeded second for this week's East West Bank Classic in Carson, received a first-round bye and is scheduled to play her opening match on Wednesday against Czech Petra Kvitova.

"I'm taking it day-by-day and I'll see how I go," she said. "I'm doing rehab for it three times a day, just to make sure that I'm ready."

Serena's older sister Venus and the veteran Lindsay Davenport have already withdrawn from the Carson tournament because of right knee injuries, making for a rash of knee injuries on the U.S. Olympic team.

Top seed Jelena Jankovic is playing for the first time since injuring her right knee at Wimbledon.

Venus has said she plans to play next week's WTA tournament in Canada before going to Beijing, while Davenport has not indicated her immediate plans.

Serena said a doctor and her father, Richard, recommended that she skip this week's tournament near her hometown of Compton.

"He's always passive and I'm more aggressive," she said about her father. "I've been doing really well all year and I've been playing a lot. What I want to do is play tennis and play tournaments for this year and several years. I just feel like that's all I want to do."

Williams has played nine tournaments this year and won three consecutive titles. She has a 33-5 match record, including a loss to Venus in the Wimbledon final.

That's in sharp contrast to her previous lower level of activity outside the Grand Slam tournaments.

"I just didn't want to play as many tournaments because I felt like I just didn't need to. I think it worked for me," she said. "I've always just played what I wanted to play, regardless."

That includes the Olympics, although her ailing left knee caused her to miss the 2004 Athens Games. She and Venus teamed to win the gold medal in doubles at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and Serena called it "my favorite trophy."

"When I first had an opportunity to compete, I was excited and I really wanted to do it, but I didn't understand it until I was there and until I actually won," she said. "Then it kind of all set in, what a great feat it was."

Meanwhile, Melinda Czink, who got into the East West Bank Classic as a "lucky loser," upset No. 13 Virginie Razzano of France 6-3 6-3 in the first round on Monday.

Later, Samantha Stosur overwhelmed No. 12 seed Shahar Peer 6-1 6-1.

Czink, ranked 121st on the WTA Tour, had lost in the second round of qualifying on Sunday. But the 25-year-old Hungarian was placed in the 56-player singles field when Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia withdrew because of an injured right knee.

Kuznetsova was the 11th player to withdraw from the $650,000 hardcourt tournament.

Australia's Stosur served eight aces and converted five of seven break-point opportunities in her win over the 25th-ranked Peer of Israel.

Stosur, a quarterfinalist last week at Stanford, has a 3-2 career edge over Peer and has won their past three meetings, the most recent in the opening round of the French Open.

"It's probably the best match I've played in the last couple of weeks," Stosur said. "I got off to a good start and kept rolling from there. I never really felt under too much pressure during the games. It's the way you want to feel all the time."

Indian 16th seed Sania Mirza closed out the opening day with a 6-3 6-4 win over Eva Hrdinova of the Czech Republic.

Czink will face 123rd-ranked Olga Savchuk of the Ukraine in the second round. Savchuk upset 36th-ranked Gisela Dulko of Argentina 6-4 6-3.

Sybille Bammer of Austria, the 14th seed, beat American qualifier Ahsha Rolle, 6-0 6-4.

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