The Hindu : Sport : Venus prevails over Peng

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Sport

Venus prevails over Peng

K.C. Vijaya Kumar

Jankovic moves past Sanda Mamic in straight sets

— Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

SWEATING IT OUT: Venus Williams overcame Shuai Peng in the Canara Bank Bangalore Open on Thursday.

Bangalore: Venus Williams struggled with her serves, often failed to finish points at the net and was also distracted by a few late line calls. Yet, the reigning Wimbledon champion had the last laugh.

The second-seeded Venus defeated Shuai Peng of China 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-2 in a Canara Bank Bangalore Open second round match on Thursday.

Later in the night, the top-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia defeated Sanda Mamic of Croatia 6-2, 6-2. The left-handed Mamic, slowly finding her way back after a surgery-induced two-year break, was no match for Jankovic.

Class and ability

The difference in class and ability helped Venus, ranked eighth, start the match on an advantage against an opponent relying on resilience and the odd brilliant streak.

And the mismatch was evident in the first set as Venus, playing below par, wrested two breaks in the fifth and seventh games to coast home.

In the second set, after trading breaks in the fourth and fifth games, Venus and Peng slugged all the way to the tie-breaker. Serving for the match at 6-4 in the tie-breaker, Venus served a double fault.

Peng grabbed the lifeline, held her two serves to go up 7-6 and also got a freebie as Venus served another double fault to stretch the match into the decider. In fact, seven double faults derailed Venus in the second set (she had 15 in the match).

“I can serve a lot better than today but the good thing is that I have finished the match and it is behind me. I always want to close a match at two sets but it went to three,” Venus said.

Moving ahead

Having lost in the first round of the Cellular South Cup at Memphis recently, Venus scrubbed that memory and the rust off her game as she quickly raced to a 2-0 lead in the decider with a break in the second game.

Service woes struck both players and they traded breaks till 4-2. Venus continued to serve double faults, while Peng found her groundstrokes going awry and lost all her service games.

Venus won the last two games to clinch a quarterfinal berth. Peng, ranked 59, did have her moments as evident in a return of serve late in the decider and a volley winner in the second set.

Peng can walk with her head held high, while Venus will have to quickly address her service problems as she gears up for her quarterfinal clash against Russia’s Vera Zvonareva, the seventh seed.

The results: Singles: Second round: Zi Yan (Chn) bt Olga Savchuk (Ukr) 6-2, 6-1; 7-Vera Zvonareva (Rus) bt Agnes Szatmari (Rou) 7-6(5), 6-1; 2-Venus Williams (USA) bt Shuai Peng (Chn) 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-2; 1-Jelena Jankovic (Srb) bt Sanda Mamic (Cro) 6-2, 6-2. Doubles: Quarterfinals: Chunmei Ji & Shengnan Sun (Chn) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) & Olga Savchuk (Ukr) 6-3, 7-5. Ekaterina Dzehalevich (Blr) & Monica Niculescu (Rou) bt 4-Anastasia Rodionova & Yaroslava Shvedova (Rus) bt 6-7(5), 6-3, 10-8.