Tennis: Heavy going for Venus in New York

Published on Tuesday 1 September 2009 09:40

THIRD seed Venus Williams survived a major scare at Flushing Meadows as she came from a set down to beat Vera Dushevina on the first night at the 2009 US Open.

Having seen younger sister and defending champion Serena Williams cruise into the second round with a 6-4, 6-1 win over fellow American Alexa Glatch earlier in the day, the fans inside Arthur Ashe Stadium were expecting an equally dominant performance from Venus against a Russian ranked 44 places below her.

It was far from convincing from the American two-time champion, though, who scraped through 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-3 in a match lasting two hours and 44 minutes.

Venus is on course for a fourth-round meeting with former champion Kim Clijsters.

The Belgian wild card brushed aside world No.79 Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine 6-1, 6-1 in just under an hour.

The 26-year-old Belgian was playing in New York for the first time since winning the 2005 women's singles title, having retired from tennis in 2006 to start a family. Clijsters needed just 58 minutes to get past Kutuzova to set up a second-round tie with 14th seed Marion Bartoli.

The Frenchwoman got past Paraguay's Rossanna de los Rios 6-1, 6-0.

Russia's Vera Zvonareva, seeded seven, advanced 6-0, 6-4 at the expense of Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives while eighth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus eased through to round two with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru.

Azarenka's potential fourth-round opponent, 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, dispatched Austrian Patricia Mayr 6-1, 6-2.