Venus Advances at 2102 Family Circle Cup Event
American Venus Williams has advanced to the third round of the Family Circle Cup tournament in Charleston, S.C., after defeating Serbian Jelena Jankovic in straight sets, 7-5, 6-0, to advance to the third round of play. She put up a high level of play that will be hard to be overcome by remaining players in the field. Venus says she is still testing her endurance after battling an autoimmune disease that left her benched for over six months.
"Actually, winning a match in straight sets is not something I’m used to yet," said Venus. “I love clay and I’ve won. I’ve won a lot of big titles on clay. Came close to winning the biggest title and it didn’t work out."
Venus fell to 134th overall in the WTA Rankings after she was forced to withdraw from the 2011 U.S. Open, and has since improved to 87th after reaching the quarterfinals at the Sony Ericsson Open. She wasn’t sure what might lie ahead on clay, a surface since hadn’t competed on in two years.
“I always feel like I’m stepping into the unknown,” said Venus of her clay court play.
Marion Bartoli, Sabine Lisicki, Lucie Sararova and Nadia Petrova all advanced as well on Wednesday. Bartoli says she has work to do if she hopes to make it even further at the French Open this year.
“It was great to put up a fight and get the win out there,” said Bartoli, the highest seed in action at the event.
Venus will next face Russian Anastasia Rodionova, a 7-5, 6-3 winner over Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain.
