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Venus seals 700th career victory
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Former world No. 1 Venus Williams claimed the 700th win of her career yesterday, beating German qualifier Julia Goerges 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of the Wuhan Open.
The 35-year-old American became the ninth woman to chalk up 700 victories since tennis turned professional in 1968 but still has a long way to go to catch all-time leader Martina Navratilova (1,442). She, however, is the only active women’s player to achieve the milestone other than her sister Serena, who hit 700 in April and is now on 737.
Williams, who is the oldest player at Wuhan and turned professional in 1994, when Goerges was not yet six, is a seven-time major champion who won her last grand slam title at Wimbledon in 2008.
“I’m glad nobody told me before, I would have been a little bit nervous,” Williams said. “It was a good match, she’s a quality player.”
Two other former world No. 1’s did not fare so well in central Hubei Province.
Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki was beaten 6-1, 4-6, 6-7 (6) by Anna Karolina Schmiedlova after blowing a 6-1, 4-1 lead in a marathon match that lasted almost three hours.
“I’m very, very happy and very, very tired right now,” said Slovak Schmiedlova, who will next meet France’s Kristina Mladenovic, who beat 14th-seeded Madison Keys of the United States 7-5, 1-6, 6-2.
Defending champion Petra Kvitova also advanced, beating Daria Gavrilova of Russia 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. Czech Kvitova will next face 15th-seeded Italian Roberta Vinci in the third round.
Ana Ivanovic advanced with a 6-0, 6-3 win over American Madison Brengle. The ninth-seeded Serb has only dropped seven games in two matches.
And injuries took their toll yesterday.
Belinda Bencic of Switzerland retired from her match against Camila Giorgi of Italy with a left leg injury. Bencic, who was coming off a loss to Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska in the Tokyo Pan Pacific final on Sunday, retired after dropping the first set 2-6.
Victoria Azarenka of Belarus also limped off and retired after she was broken in the second set by Britain’s Johanna Konta and was trailing 4-6, 0-1 in their third-round match.
The pair follows Russian Maria Sharapova — who retired on Monday from her first match since Wimbledon with a new arm injury — and Canadian Eugenie Bouchard who pulled out before playing at all, saying she had not yet recovered from a concussion at the US Open.
In the day’s final match, top-seeded Simona Halep of Romania beat Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-1.
In other matches, sixth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany defeated Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-4, 2-6, 6-2; 12th-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine beat American Varvara Lepchenko 6-4, 6-2; and Coco Vandeweghe of United States held off Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6).
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