Injury forces Venus out, Henin ousted
Source: Agencies |
January 22, 2011, Saturday
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Venus Williams lasted just seven points in her third-round match yesterday at the Australian Open, forced to retire with the stomach or thigh muscle injury that she suffered two days earlier.
After having lost the first game to Andrea Petkovic of Germany and trailing 0-30 in the second, Williams stretched to the right to return a serve, hit the ball and then cried out in pain, clutching toward her stomach on the right side.
"Obviously I just couldn't play," Williams said. "I couldn't move, it was too painful.
"The last 48 hours, I just did as much pain management as I could. A lot of times when you play you get that adrenalin and that blocks pain. I just didn't get enough of that today. I was hoping for some magic that I could recover."
At the end, Williams waved to the Rod Laver Arena crowd, appearing to be on the verge of tears.
Earlier, Justine Henin departed the tournament a lot sooner than she did last year. No. 1-seeded Caroline Wozniacki is still around, providing entertainment on and off the court.
Henin, the 2010 finalist, was beaten by two-time grand slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 7-6 (8) in the mild third-round upset, while Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova all advanced.
"There's no excuse, even if I know I'm not at 100 percent, she was better than me today," Henin said. "I made way too many errors."
Wozniacki provided as much fanfare in her post-match media conference as she did during her 6-4, 6-3 win over Dominika Cibulkova.
Pretending to be irritated at being considered "boring" by some critics, she came prepared with a monologue to answer any question that might be asked about the match, and then some.
"They said that my press conferences were kind of boring. ... I always gave the same answers," Wozniacki said. "I find it quite funny because I always get the same questions, so I'm just going to start with the answer.
"Hopefully this was a little bit different than usual, and now you can maybe give me some questions that are a little bit more interesting," the 20-year-old Wozniacki said.
Sharapova, who won the 2008 Australian women's title, struggled to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Julia Goerges of Germany. French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy also won, beating Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-0, 7-6 (2).
Federer was back to his vintage best, beating Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. The Swiss No. 2 will play Tommy Robredo, who beat Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky.
Roddick overcame a slow start before powering to victory with 32 aces to beat Robin Haase 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2.
Djokovic only had to play one set in the third round to advance. The 2008 Australian Open champion was leading Viktor Troicki 6-2 when his Serbian teammate retired due to a stomach muscle strain.
Ninth-seeded Fernando Verdasco advanced with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 win over Kei Nishikori of Japan and will play Tomas Berdych in the fourth round. The sixth-seeded Berdych beat Richard Gasquet of France 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
After having lost the first game to Andrea Petkovic of Germany and trailing 0-30 in the second, Williams stretched to the right to return a serve, hit the ball and then cried out in pain, clutching toward her stomach on the right side.
"Obviously I just couldn't play," Williams said. "I couldn't move, it was too painful.
"The last 48 hours, I just did as much pain management as I could. A lot of times when you play you get that adrenalin and that blocks pain. I just didn't get enough of that today. I was hoping for some magic that I could recover."
At the end, Williams waved to the Rod Laver Arena crowd, appearing to be on the verge of tears.
Earlier, Justine Henin departed the tournament a lot sooner than she did last year. No. 1-seeded Caroline Wozniacki is still around, providing entertainment on and off the court.
Henin, the 2010 finalist, was beaten by two-time grand slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 7-6 (8) in the mild third-round upset, while Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova all advanced.
"There's no excuse, even if I know I'm not at 100 percent, she was better than me today," Henin said. "I made way too many errors."
Wozniacki provided as much fanfare in her post-match media conference as she did during her 6-4, 6-3 win over Dominika Cibulkova.
Pretending to be irritated at being considered "boring" by some critics, she came prepared with a monologue to answer any question that might be asked about the match, and then some.
"They said that my press conferences were kind of boring. ... I always gave the same answers," Wozniacki said. "I find it quite funny because I always get the same questions, so I'm just going to start with the answer.
"Hopefully this was a little bit different than usual, and now you can maybe give me some questions that are a little bit more interesting," the 20-year-old Wozniacki said.
Sharapova, who won the 2008 Australian women's title, struggled to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Julia Goerges of Germany. French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy also won, beating Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-0, 7-6 (2).
Federer was back to his vintage best, beating Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. The Swiss No. 2 will play Tommy Robredo, who beat Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky.
Roddick overcame a slow start before powering to victory with 32 aces to beat Robin Haase 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2.
Djokovic only had to play one set in the third round to advance. The 2008 Australian Open champion was leading Viktor Troicki 6-2 when his Serbian teammate retired due to a stomach muscle strain.
Ninth-seeded Fernando Verdasco advanced with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 win over Kei Nishikori of Japan and will play Tomas Berdych in the fourth round. The sixth-seeded Berdych beat Richard Gasquet of France 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
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