Nightmare draw sees early exit for Venus

Last year’s runner-up Venus Williams fell at the first hurdle in the Australian Open when she was knocked out by Belinda Bencic.

Twelve months after Venus was beaten by her sister Serena in the final, the family will not be represented in the second round of the tournament for the first time since 1997.

It was a nightmare draw for fifth seed Williams, with Bencic a former top-10 player back in great form after two years of injury problems.

Williams was under pressure from the start and a tally of 32 winners and only 12 unforced errors told how well Bencic played in her 6-3 7-5 victory.

It compounded an already bad day for the American women, with US Open champion Sloane Stephens continuing her losing run.

Stephens has not won a match since her stunning triumph in New York, and a 2-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-2 defeat by Zhang Shuai made it eight defeats in a row.

All four women in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows were from the US but three of them are already out, with 10th seed Coco Vandeweghe beaten 7-6 (7/4) 6-2 by Hungary’s Timea Babos.

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki eased past inform Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-2 6-3, while fourth seed Elina Svitolina was a 6-3 6-2 winner against Ivana Jorovic.

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk – who was given a wild card into qualifying after winning the junior title last year and won three matches to reach the main draw – was a 6-2 6-2 winner over 25th seed Peng Shuai.

Picture: Getty. Early exit: fifth seed and last year’s runner-up Venus Williams was beaten by Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic.