Venus Faces First Round Loss in Opening Round at Rogers Cup
Venus Williams played and lost her first match in over two months, losing to Kirsten Flipkens 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. Venus lost in the first round at Roland Garros this year, and she missed Wimbledon after playing in that tournament for 16 years in a row.
”I wasn’t really expecting to play that well in the first set,” Venus said. ”So I think that in the second, I just kind of didn’t handle it well. But I was pretty close there to closing that match out and then got down in the third.”
Ana Ivanovic and Maria Kirilenko had better luck than Venus by winning their opening matches. Ivanovic won against Su-Wei Hsieh 6-1, 6-2, and Kirilenko defeated Petra Martic 6-2, 6-1.
Other match results were, American qualifier Lauren Davis beat out number 28 in the world Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 7-5, 7-5; Dominika Cibulkova with a win over Aneglique Kerber 6-7(0), 6-2, 7-5; and Eugenie Bouchard of Canada won 6-3, 6-1 against Alisa Klevbanova.
Bouchard, a 19-year-old Canadian, had an effective and aggressive baseline game which helped her gain control in the match against Klevbanova. Both players had trouble with their own serves at the beginning of the match.
”I just decided to go for it and started to play aggressive,” Bouchard said. ”That definitely helped me.”
Bouchard also partnered up with Monica Seles to play an exhibition match against the Williams Sisters. This is Bouchard’s first full season on the pro tour and she settled in and handled herself well.
Jelena Jankovic took three sets to beat Anna Tatishvili 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-3. Ekaterina Makarova defeated Anastasia Rodionova 6-1, 7-5, and Alize Cornet beat Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-3. Sloane Stephens played her first match at the Rogers Cup and came through with a win over Kristina Mladenovic 6-2, 7-6(5). Stephens’ next opponent will be Mona Barthel of Germany. Other match results: Sharon Fichman defeated Stephanie Dubois 5-7, 6-2, 6-2; Magdalena Rybarikova beat Alexandra Dulgheru 6-4, 6-3; Francesca Schiavone defeated Chanelle Scheepers 2-6, 6-3, 6-3; Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Yanina Wickmayer 6-2, 6-3; and Sam Stosur beat Julia Glushko 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
