Sports News

Venus Williams beaten at French Open

Published: May 29, 2009 at 4:15 PM
French Open tennis in Paris

PARIS, May 29 (UPI) -- World No. 3 Venus Williams was ousted by 29th-seeded Agnes Szavay in straight sets Friday in third-round play of the French Open in Paris.

Williams committed 23 unforced errors, including 14 in the first set when she didn't win a game as Szavay posted the first big upset of the tournament with a 6-0, 6-4 victory. The first set took just 30 minutes and, while the second was more competitive, Szavay finished off two service breaks to take the set and the match.

Dinara Safina continued her dominant play, racing by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-0 on Friday. Safina has lost just four games in her three matches in Paris and three times and she's 17-1 since taking over the world No. 1 ranking.

In other third-round matches, defending French Open champion Ana Ivanovic rolled over 32nd-seeded Iveta Benesova 6-0, 6-2, 20th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova stopped Gisela Dulko 6-4, 6-2 and France's Aravane Rezai advanced to the fourth round with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 win over Michelle Larcher De Brito.

Ivanovic, seeded eighth in Paris, cruised to her win in 61 minutes by piling up 20 winners. Ivanovic hasn't lost a set in her three French Open matches this year.

Also, 25th seeded Na Li took out Olga Govortsova 7-5, 6-1 and Maria Sharapova defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The day's final match was suspended because of darkness with ninth-seeded Victoria Azarenka tied with No. 22-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro at one set each.

© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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