Venus Storms Back to Avoid Upset in Hong Kong
Venus Williams got past a tough opponent on Tuesday, rallying to beat Ukrainian Yuliya Beygelzimer 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the Hong Kong Tennis Open second round.
The third-seeded American had her hands full all-match long. Beygelzimer routed her 6-2 in the opening set, and even built break advantages in the third set.
She opened up a 2-0 advantage, and even after Venus got it back to 2-2, Beygelzimer got the break back for a 4-3 lead. But Venus dug deep and rattled off the final three games to avoid the upset and close out the Ukrainian in two hours and 13 minutes.
“I like easy matches better. But like I’ve said before, there are no givens out here,” said Venus. “She came out and played the match of her life—that’s what I have to be ready for every time. I was just trying to make sure I stayed on the court and didn’t make it unplayable. I was trying to be smart out there.”
Venus will take on Yafan Wang in the second round. Wang led American Christina McHale 6-3, 4-1 before McHale was forced to retire.
Second-seed Angelique Kerber had to fight back from a set down to upend Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-3 and reach the second-round in Hong Kong.
All the seeds fared well on Tuesday. Fourth-seed Jelena Jankovic, fifth-seed Samantha Stosur, sixth-seed Daria Gavrilova, seventh-seed Caroline Garcia and eighth-seeded Alize Cornet all advanced to the second-round with victories.
