“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
MASON, Ohio (AP) — Serena Williams is focused on her next match,
not her distinguished history.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
Williams took the first step toward winning a third consecutive
tournament when she beat Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-3,
7-6 (5) in the first round of the Western & Southern Open on
Tuesday.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
Williams, who last won three straight tournaments at the beginning
of the 2008 season, has improved her world ranking from No. 175 to
No. 31 in her comeback from injury and illness. She has won 12
straight matches, tying Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka for the
longest such streak on the WTA Tour this year.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
“I’m not going for three,” she said. “I just want to play the best
that I can. I don’t even think about that kind of
stuff.”
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
Williams was pushed by Hradecka in the second set. She built a 5-1
lead before Hradecka rallied to take the lead. Williams regrouped
to force a tiebreaker and advanced to the second round when
Hradecka double-faulted on match point.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
“I was upset that I didn’t close it out,” Williams said. “She
started playing different and playing better – running a
lot.”
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
Williams next plays Australian Samantha Stosur in the third round.
Williams beat Stosur 6-4, 6-2 in the championship last week in
Toronto.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
Defending men’s champion Roger Federer reached the third round with
a 6-3, 7-5 win over Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro, who had won
the last two matches between the two, including the 2009 U.S. Open
final.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
“I expected a tougher match, for obvious reasons,” he said. “It
went better than I thought. I had a wonderful first set, and the
second set, too. I was able to keep him from playing the game he
likes to play. I was able to mix it up and serve well.”
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
French Open champion Li Na beat Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-4 to become
the first woman to reach the third round. The win was Li’s first
since losing in the second round at Wimbledon. She lost in the
first round last week in Toronto.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
“I needed some matches for the hard court,” said Li, who reached
the Australian Open finals in January. “It’s always tough, but I
was happy I could win the match today.”
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
Fourth-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova, sixth-seeded Czech Petra
Kvitova and No 8 seed Marion Bartoli of France all cruised into the
third round. Sharapova moved past Australian Anastasia Rodionova
6-1, 6-3, Kvitova advanced with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over South
African Chanelle Scheepers, and Bartoli posted a 6-1, 6-2 win over
Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
Sharapova, runner-up this year at Wimbledon, felt as if she got her
week off to a good start.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
“I started the match quite well,” she said. “I had some ups and
downs in the second set, but I played aggressively.”
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, seeded 13th, advanced to the second
round with a 6-0, 6-3 romp over Czech Iveta Benesova, but barely
got to the court on time. Her car ran out of gas on the way to the
match.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
“I was like, ‘Oh, my God. Great. I’ve got 20 minutes to my practice
session,'” Jankovic said. “Luckily, the gas station was, like, two
minutes walk. There were some players passing through and looking
at us in the middle of the road like, ‘What is she doing up there?’
Pretty funny. It’s not how you begin the day, but how you end
it.”
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
Flavia Pennetta upset 12th-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
2-6, 6-3, 6-3, and 10th-seeded Stosur, 16th-seeded Shuai Peng of
China and No. 17 seed Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium also advanced on
the women’s side.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
In the men’s first round, France’s Michael Llodra upset 13th-seeded
Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (4). Andrey Golubev of
Kazakhstan eliminated No. 16 seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland
3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to end a losing streak of 18 consecutive matches in
ATP play.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
“It was very important,” he said. “I lost a few matches when I was
one or two points away from victory. It’s really tough to
digest.”
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
Eight-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic became the first
man to advance to the third round. Berdych defeated Argentina’s
Juan Monaco 7-6 (2), 6-0. Ninth-seeded Nicolas Almagro, 10th-seeded
Gilles Simon of France and No. 15 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a
Wimbledon semifinalist, also moved on.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;”>
In other key men’s matches, Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek edged
American John Isner 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (4), and American James Blake
moved into the third round with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Italian Fabio
Fognini.
“font-family: Verdana, Times, serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 13px; color: #000000; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal verdana, helvetica, arial;”>
“text-decoration: none; color: #000066;” rel=”item-license” name=
“47289aa1-10b7-4400-8a11-c442a811ef63” href=
“http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TEN_CINCINNATI?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-16-23-15-50#47289aa1-10b7-4400-8a11-c442a811ef63″> Ā© 2011Ā The
Associated Press may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed. “http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/privacy”>Privacy
Policy