U.S. women upset at Australian Open
MELBOURNE, Australia — In her first match at the Australian Open since a Williams sister was guaranteed to win the title, Venus Williams lost in the first round to Belinda Bencic and ensured it cannot happen in 2018.
Venus lost last year’s final at Melbourne Park to younger sibling Serena, who clinched an Open era-record 23rd major but hasn’t played a Grand Slam tournament since because of her pregnancy and the birth of her first child.
The 6-3, 7-5 loss for Venus Williams was her first in five career meetings with Bencic, who lost to Serena Williams in the first round here last year.
The 20-year-old Bencic saved five break points in the eighth game before a rain delay caused an almost halfhour suspension of play as the roof was closed on Rod Laver Arena. She returned on a roll, winning the next six points to hold serve and then clinch the set.
Bencic teamed up with Roger Federer to win the Hopman Cup for Switzerland in the first week of the season, and had the 19-time major winner’s parents in the crowd supporting her on Monday.
It must have helped, having overcome the surprise when the draw was made that she’d have to play another Williams in the first round.
“Honestly, the first reaction of everyone was ‘Oh, bad luck.’ But of course, it would be nice to play somebody easier first round and get your rhythm a little bit,” Bencic said.
“It’s amazing, when I was a little girl, I was watching them on TV. I never thought I’d get a chance to play them.”
Williams’ exit followed U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens’ 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2 loss to Zhang Shuai.
No. 13-seeded Stephens was serving for the match in the 10th game of the second set but dropped her serve. She was outplayed in the tiebreaker and in the third set.
Stephens hasn’t won a tourlevel match since her Grand Slam breakthrough triumph at the U.S. Open last year.
Three other Americans went out in earlier matches, with 10th-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe losing to Timea Babos 7-6 (4), 6-2, 12thseeded Julia Goerges extended her winning streak to 15 matches with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Sofia Kenin, and No. 19 Magdalena Rybarikova beating Taylor Townsend 6-0, 7-5.