Serena struggles while Venus is sent packing at Australian Open
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Serena Williams consoled her sister, telling Venus to look at it this way: She gets to go home. A few hours later, Serena was almost ready herself to start packing for the long flight.
In danger of an early exit from the Australian Open, defending champion Serena Williams got a bit of a scare in the second set before dispatching 52nd-ranked Li Na of China.
Venus Williams had no such luck. The Wimbledon champion sprayed 65 unforced errors Monday in her, 2-6, 6-0, 9-7, first-round loss to Bulgaria's Tszvetana Pironkova.
Serena didn't have it in her to watch the match -- she said it made her too nervous. Between their matches, however, she offered Venus some comfort.
"I told her I was a bit envious that she gets to go home, so she could cheer up," Serena said. "She said 'You're not really envious' and I'm like, 'Nah' -- she laughed at least," Serena added, laughing. "By no means am I envious. I was just trying to get her to cheer up, that's all. I don't want to go home."
Serena won, 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-2, and maintained her record of never losing in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament.
After losing the tiebreaker in the second set, Serena was broken to open the third. With Li ripping forehand winners, Serena was two points from falling behind 2-0. Then the prospect of joining Venus on the sidelines sparked a resurgence.
"I just got angry that I was in the situation," Serena said.
Her victory meant Jennifer Capriati remains the only woman to lose in the first round of her title defense at the Australian Open. She won in 2002 and lost in the first round in '03.
Serena, on a 15-match winning streak at Melbourne Park after winning the title in 2003 and '05 and skipping the '04 tournament, will play Camille Pin in the next round.
Pironkova, an 18-year-old Bulgarian ranked No. 94 entering the tournament, will play American Laura Granville. She shrugged off her upset of Venus Williams, whom she idolized from matches on TV.
"It's just one match that I won," Pironkova said. "I don't think I should celebrate."
Top-ranked Lindsay Davenport, 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova and French Open winner Justine Henin-Hardenne were among the 10 seeded women to advance Monday. Six were ousted, including No. 9 Elena Dementieva in addition to No. 10 Venus Williams.
Among the men, No. 2-seeded Andy Roddick, his big serve producing only seven aces, downed Michael Lammer of Switzerland, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, in the first round. Masters Cup champion David Nalbandian had some difficulty before overcoming Thai qualifier Danai Udomchoke, 6-2, 6-2, 1-6, 6-7 (4), 6-1.
Other men advancing were No. 7 Ivan Ljubicic, No. 8 Gaston Gaudio, No. 11 David Ferrer, No. 13 Robby Ginepri, No. 17 Radek Stepanek, No. 18 Mario Ancic and No. 20 James Blake. Taylor Dent, Carlos Moya and Tim Henman were the major casualties.
If the seedings hold, Roddick gets Nalbandian in the semifinals and top-ranked Roger Federer in the final. More immediately, he faces South Africa's Wesley Moodie in the second round. And Roddick can't get complacent following his first-round exit at the last U.S. Open.
Federer opens Tuesday against wild card Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, who is ranked 195th and playing in his first top-tier event. Third-seeded Lleyton Hewitt, who lost last year's final to Marat Safin, faces Robin Vik of the Czech Republic.
Also Tuesday, three-time Australian Open champion Martina Hingis resumes her comeback from retirement against Russia's Vera Zvonareva.
No. 2 Kim Clijsters, the U.S. Open champion, is to start against Cho Yoon-jeong of South Korea, provided she's recovered sufficiently from a hip strain that forced her from last week's tuneup tournament in Sydney.
No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo, who won the season-ending WTA Championship last November, plays China's Sun Tiantian.
The tournament started with all of the women's top 10 players for only the second time in the Open era. The perfect 10 lasted only until the first afternoon.
Venus Williams, a five-time major winner, had 11 winners and 10 errors in her opening set and won it in 36 minutes. She missed a simple overhead in the opening game of the second, and her game went downhill. She hit only five clean winners in the second set and made 41 unforced in the third, hoping to counter Pironkova's big forehand.
"I just seemed to get to a point there, I just couldn't pull my game together," said Williams, who was playing her first tour-level match since September. "I don't know what happened. I just was struggling to keep the ball in today. Obviously, she benefited from my largesse."
It was only the third time in 34 Grand Slam tournaments she has lost in the first round. The previous time was the 2001 French Open.
Davenport had no trouble against Australian wild card Casey Dellacqua, winning, 6-2, 6-1. Fourth-seeded Sharapova beat Germany's Sandra Kloesel by the same score.
Sharapova, an Australian semifinalist last year, said she was not bothered by shoulder pain that sidelined her late last season.
