Sports

Saturday May 30, 2009

Venus Williams blown away

Rampant Nadal and Safina lead contenders into fourth round

A tortured and tormented Venus Williams whimpered out of the French Open yesterday while Portuguese teenager Michelle Larcher de Brito made a very noisy departure from the big stage.

After labouring through her first match, surviving a match point in the second, American third seed Williams was finally put out of her misery in the third round when she was tossed out by rising Hungarian Agnes Szavay 6-0, 6-4.

But the tournament’s first real shock could not match the commotion created by a 16-year-old Grand Slam debutante.

Fans scrambled for their earplugs at Roland Garros when the decibel level went up several notches before France’s Aravane Rezai finally silenced Larcher de Brito 7-6, 6-2.

Sonic boom: Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal had the crowd scrambling for their earplugs. — Reuters

While Larcher de Brito deafened fans, top seeds Rafael Nadal and Dinara Safina made serene progress.

Four-time champion Nadal barely broke into a sweat as he overcame potential banana skin Lleyton Hewitt in a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 hammering to extend his Paris record to 31-0.

The only drama came in the final point when Hewitt was unsure if Nadal had unleashed his seventh ace to win the match. The pockmark on the clay confirmed he had.

“Always a win against Lleyton is a very good news,” said Nadal, who is trying to become the only person to win five straight French Open titles. “You must be playing well.”

Men’s third seed Andy Murray advanced to the fourth round for the first time when Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia retired while trailing 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.

Fourth seed Novak Djokovic wasted little time in finishing off Ukrainian qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 in their interrupted second round match.

Russian Safina set up a last-16 date with Rezai by thundering past teenage compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-0 and holder Ana Ivanovic pulled off an equally emphatic 6-0, 6-2 drubbing of Czech Iveta Benesova.

None of the big names could grab the spotlight from Larcher de Brito.

Standing at just 1.65m, Larcher de Brito is petite for a tennis player but she more than makes up for it with a cacophony of ear-splitting shrieks that follows her every groundstroke.

Blown apart: Venus Williams playing a shot against Agnes Szavay in the third round Friday. The Hungarian won 6-0, 6-4. — Reuters

So loud is her sonic boom, it lasts long after she has made contact with the ball and fans could have been forgiven for thinking Concorde was once again airborne and making an emergency landing on Philippe Chatrier Court.

Rezai certainly thought so as she complained to the umpire several times during the match and even insisted he should consult the Grand Slam supervisor on the issue.

“Please, there is a limit, enough,” an angry Rezai shouted.

Larcher de Brito fired back: “There are no rules, so there is nothing I can do about it.”

Larcher de Brito is latest luminary to emerge from the Nick Bollettieri tennis academy in Florida where other grunting graduates include Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova.

Williams barely raised a groan as she was hopelessly outclassed by 29th seed Szavay who never lost belief during the 81-minute encounter.

In just 30 minutes, Williams saw the first set vanish before her eyes as she suffered her first love set drubbing since July 2007. On that occasion she rebounded to beat Nadia Petrova in the Fed Cup but there were to be no second chances yesterday.

The seven-time major winner raised a glimmer of hope when she nosed ahead 4-3 in the second set but surrendered that advantage with a dreadful double fault.

From then on, there was going to be only one winner, and a backhand into the net ended the American’s dream.

As Szavay performed a celebratory jig, Venus could only glance skywards as she made the long walk towards the exit.

In the only other upset, Romanian Victor Hanescu beat seventh seed French­man Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.

Former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero also went out following a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 defeat by Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber in the second round.

Eighth seed Fernando Verdasco reached the fourth round for the third year running when he won the all-Spanish battle 6-2, 7-6, 7-6 against Nicolas Almagro. — Reuters

Results

MEN

Second round: Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukr) 6-3, 6-4, 6-1; Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) bt Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3.

Third round: Fernando Verdasco (Spa) bt Nicolas Almagro (Spa) 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (10-8); Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) bt Josselin Ouanna (Fra) 7-5, 6-3, 7-5; Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt Stanilas Wawrinka (Swi) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Rafael Nadal (Spa) bt Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) 6-1, 6-3, 6-1; Marin Cilic (Cro) bt Radek Stepanek (Cze) 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; Victor Hanescu (Rom) bt Gilles Simon (Fra) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2; Robin Soderling (Swe) bt David Ferrer (Spa) 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5); Andy Murray (Bri) bt Janko Tipsarevic (Srb) 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, rtd.

WOMEN

Third round: Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Yaroslava Shvedova (Kaz) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4; Ana Ivanovic (Srb) bt Iveta Benesova (Cze) 6-0, 6-2; Aravane Rezai (Fra) bt Michelle Larcher de Brito (Por) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2; Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) bt Gisela Dulko (Arg) 6-4, 6-2; Agnes Szavay (Hun) bt Venus Williams (USA) 6-0, 6-4; Dinara Safina (Rus) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) 6-2, 6-0; Li Na (Chn) bt Olga Govortsova (Blr) 7-5, 6-1.


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