Clouds set in for Venus
Williams bows out in second round as rain plagues men’s and women’s draws
Venus Williams dug herself out of deficits over and over again until she simply ran out of solutions, exiting the U.S. Open before the third round for the third year in a row.
Two-time champ Williams, 33, was the oldest woman in the second round at Flushing Meadows, and while she made things interesting after a poor start to the match and to the final set, she couldn’t sustain solid play all the way through and lost to 56th-ranked Zheng Jie of China 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (5) on a wet Wednesday.
The match lasted three hours and two minutes — making it the longest between women in the tournament so far — and the third set alone went 11/2 hours, closing when Williams missed a volley, then a return, on the last two points. She wound up with 44 unforced errors in all, half on forehands.
During her on-court interview, Zheng addressed the partisan crowd that was pulling for Williams, saying: “First, I want to say, ‘Sorry, guys.’ ”
Rain began falling in the early afternoon, jumbling the schedule, and eight women’s singles matches were postponed, including Williams’ younger sister, defending champion Serena, against Galina Voskoboeva.
Canadian Eugenie Bouchard’s match against Germany’s Angelique Kerber was postponed until Thursday.
In all, there were more than four hours of delays during the day, and 2012 men’s winner Andy Murray had yet to play a point as the time approached 9 p.m., Wednesday. The Scot did go on to defeat France’s Michael Llodra 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 later in the evening.
In the handful of matches that were completed by early evening — men in the first round, women in the second — 2011 French Open champion Li Na, and 2012 Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska won in straight sets, as did 30th-seeded Laura Robson of Britain. No. 17 Kevin Anderson, No. 21 Mikhail Youzhny and 109th-ranked U.S. wildcard entry Tim Smyczek were among the men’s winners.
Venus Williams and Zheng, a former top-15 player who twice reached Grand Slam semifinals, played two points at the beginning before rain interrupted their match.
When they resumed about two hours later, at 15-15 in the opening game, Williams’ play was full of mistakes. In the first set, she put only 46 per cent of her first serves in play and accumulated 15 unforced errors, 10 more than Zheng.
Then came the second set. Suddenly, Williams looked more like the player who won the U.S. Open in 2000 and 2001. But it didn’t last for the player currently ranked 60th.