Venus beaten in Beijing

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:51

After losing in the first round to the 18-year-old in Tokyo last week, Williams continued her disappointing recent form with a 3-6 6-1 6-4 defeat at the Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Center on Monday.

Sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova had no such problems as she cruised into the third round with a 6-2 6-1 victory over Anabel Medina Garrigues while Aleksandra Wozniak and Alona Bondarenko also made progress.

In first-round action, 13th seed Nadia Petrova battled past qualifier Alla Kudryavtseva 6-1 5-7 6-2 while Daniela Hantuchova saw off Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 7-5 6-2.

Francesca Schiavone had won the first seven games against Sabine Lisicki when the German retired with illness. Alisa Kleybanova and Vania King also reached the second round.

In the men’s event, second seed Novak Djokovic safely negotiated his first-round test, beating Romania’s Victor Hanescu 6-3 7-5.

The Serbian is making his debut at the China Open but won the bronze medal at last summer’s Olympics at the same venue.

Philipp Kohlschreiber saw off the challenge of Ivo Karlovic despite the giant Croatian taking his tally of aces for the season to 800.

The German eventually prevailed 7-6 (8/6) 4-6 6-1 to join Julien Benneteau and Tommy Robredo in the second round.

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