Venus Williams survived a stiff test from unseeded Czech Lucie Safarova to move into the Italian Open third round with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win on Monday.
The US fourth seed, who had a bye into the second round, unleashed eight aces as she sauntered through the first set.
But the 22-year-old Czech, ranked 49th, was much more of a handful after that.
She broke in the third game of the second set with a fine backhand return and Venus, the 1999 champion here, had to save a break point in the fifth. Safarova held serve with relative ease to force a deciding set.
Venus had to save four more break points before getting the decisive break in the fourth game with the help of an emphatic volley.
The sixth-seeded Belarusian Victoria Azarenka had a simpler route into the third round when her opponent, Japanese qualifier Ayumi Morita, retired after losing the first set to love.
Last-year’s runner-up Alize Cornet, seeded 13th, repelled a fightback by Japan’s Ai Sugiyama to progress into the second round 6-3, 7-5.
France’s Cornet took the last two games to clinch the match after Sugiyama had pulled back from 4-1 to 5-5 in the second set.
Danish ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki overwhelmed Hungary’s Agnes Szavay 6-3, 6-2 and Russian Anna Chakvetadze overcame shaky recent form to oust Spanish 15th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-2, 6-3.
Russian world No. 1 Dinara Safina’s first opponent will be France’s Virginie Razzano, who edged past Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova 6-0, 6-7, 6-4.
■ESTORIL OPEN
AFP, ESTORIL, PORTUGAL
Argentina’s two-time French Open semi-finalist David Nalbandian faces a fight to be fit for this year’s renewal as he is struggling with a hip injury.
The 27-year-old was thumped 6-2, 6-2 by Chile’s Paul Capdeville at the ATP tournament on Monday, with Nalbandian frustrated after hurting his hip little more than a week ago in Barcelona.
All he can do now prior to a possible start next Monday at the new Madrid Masters on clay is undergo more physio.
In the women’s draw top seed Iveta Benesova put out Nueza Silva of Portugal 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, while German eighth Anna-Lena Groenefeld advanced over France’s Pauline Parmentier 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/1).
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
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