The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Venus downs Sania

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Friday, Jan 06, 2006

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Sport - Tennis

Venus downs Sania

Hong Kong: Wimbledon champion Venus Williams overcame an injury scare to down Indian sensation Sania Mirza 6-3, 6-3 in the Champions Challenge in Hong Kong on Thursday.

The five-time Grand Slam winner was struggling at a break down in the first set before leaving the court for 11 minutes of treatment to her left hip.

But Williams who had not played since pulling out of the China Open in September with a knee injury, broke the teenager three times in a row on her return.

Sania went another break down at the start of the second before breaking back for 2-2 as Williams double-faulted.

The Indian World No. 34, buoyed by strong local support, found another break, but could not hold her own serve, double-faulting and putting a backhand pass wide to go 4-3 down.

Serving to stay in the match, she was broken again as Williams converted her third match point.

Netherlands finishes

on top

The Netherlands has finished first in Group B at the Hopman Cup mixed teams tennis tournament and will play in Friday's final — a week after it had to qualify to get into the main draw.

At Hong Kong: Champions Challenge: Venus Williams bt Sania Mirza 6-3, 6-3. Doubles: Sania Mirza / Kim Clijsters bt Serena Williams / Venus Williams 8-7(2).

At Gold Coast: Australian women's hardcourt (quarterfinals): Dinara Safina bt Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1, 6-3; Martina Hingis bt Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-2, 4-6, 6-0; Flavia Pennetta bt Tatiana Golovin 6-2, 5-7, 6-3; Patty Schnyder bt Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-3.

At Perth: Hopman Cup: Netherlands bt Germany 3- 0 (Michaella Krajicek bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-4, 7-6(4); Peter Wessels w/o Nicolas Kiefer; Michaella Krajicek / Peter Wessels w/o Anna-Lena Groenefeld / Nicolas Kiefer); Australia bt Argentina 2-1 (Samantha Stosur bt Gisela Dulko 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-3; Todd Reid lost to Gaston Gaudio 6-0, 6-3; Samantha Stosur / Todd Reid bt Gisela Dulko / Gaston Gaudio 7-5, 6-3); Sweden bt U.S. 2-1 (Sofia Arvidsson bt Lisa Raymond 2-6, 6-2, 6-4; Thomas Johansson bt Taylor Dent 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3; Lisa Raymond / Taylor Dent bt Sofia Arvidsson / Thomas Johansson w/o); Serbia-Montenegro bt Russia 2-1 (Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-4; Novak Djokovic bt Yuri Schukin 6-0, 6-2; Ana Ivanovic / Novak Djokovic bt Svetlana Kuznetsova / Yuri Schukin 6-2, 7-6(4).

At Adelaide: International men's hardcourt (second round): Tomas Berdych bt Andrew Murray 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-1; Dominik Hrbaty bt Mark Philippoussis 3-6, 6-4, 6-1; Kenneth Carlsen bt Ivo Karlovic 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.

At Auckland: Auckland Classic women's (quarterfinals): Vera Zvonareva bt Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-0; Daniela Hantuchova bt Tzipora Obziler 7-5, 3-6, 7-5; Marion Bartoli bt Julia Schruff 6-2, 6-0; Nadia Petrova bt Kristina Brandi 6-1, 6-2.

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