Venus Williams Survives Charleston Opener As Many Seeds Fall - UBITENNIS

Venus Williams Survives Charleston Opener As Many Seeds Fall

The World No. 14 and the third seed in Charleston Venus Williams successfully started her campaign in Charleston. Many other seeded players weren't as lucky, and crashed out in the early rounds. The highest in the rankings were the second seed Belinda Bencic, and the fourth seed Lucie Safarova, both going out in straight sets.

By Jakub Bobro
3 Min Read
Venus Williams

There were many question marks about Venus Williams coming into this tournament, winning no matches this year, except the tournament in Kaohsiung, where she didn’t face a single player in the Top 60. Venus however managed to bounce back after her most recent losses to Elena Vesnina and Kurumi Nara with a win over her fellow American, World No. 94 Alison Riske. This match seemed intriguing, as the players have somewhat of a similar playing style. Venus Williams seemed to find her groove again, as she put on a good performance against Riske, and advanced to the second round, winning 6-4 6-2. Venus got help from her opponent in the final moments of the match, as Alison Riske ended the match with two consecutive double faults at 0-30. In her post-match interview, Williams was sure to praise her opponent, and when asked what in her opinion made her the winner today, she answered: “I think experience, having the experience of playing those important points.” Venus’ opponent in the next round will be the Yulia Putintseva. Putintseva was one of the unseeded players who pulled off an upset today. Hers was against the 15th seed Sabine Lisicki, winning 7-5 4-6 6-3 in 2 hours and 19 minutes. Williams has won all 3 of their previous meetings, the last one being in the semifinals of Kaohsiung.

Lisicki was only one of the many upsets that occurred in Charleston today. The second seed Belinda Bencic suffered a huge upset by the Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina, losing 1-6 1-6 in 56 minutes. The second highest seed to lose today was the fourth seed Lucie Safarova, however this upset was much more expectable as Safarova is still recovering from bacterial infections and reactive arthritis. Other high seed losses include the American Madison Keys, losing 7-6(3) 4-6 4-6 to Laura Siegemund of Germany, and the 2014 Champion Andrea Petkovic losing to Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig 5-7 2-6.

Noteworthy is also the retirement of Eugenie Bouchard. The Canadian retired from her match against Lourdes Dominguez Lino at 4-6 6-1 0-1, citing a strained abdomen, an injury which has made her life hard last summer. The Slovak qualifier Kristina Kucova did an amazing comeback, after being down 0-6 0-2 and 0-40, she ended up the winner, with the final scoreline of 0-6 6-3 6-3. Kucova will next face the biggest opponent of her career so far, the World No. 2 Angelique Kerber.

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