Resurgent Venus stopped in 1st round at Australian Open

Serena Williams shrugged off her knee injury and lack of match practice to beat Italian Camila Giorgi in the first round of the Australian Open.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Venus Williams tried to rally, winning two games and getting another break-point chance after falling a set and 5-0 behind, before her 16th trip to the Australian Open finished in a first-round loss to Johanna Konta.

In only his second first-round loss at a major tournament, the oft-injured 29-year-old fought for four hours, 41 minutes before the inspired Verdasco won 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.

The American eighth seed was nowhere to be seen afterwards, with the 35-year-old fined $5,000 for not attending her mandatory post-match media conference. “It doesn’t matter who I play, when I play”.

Williams added a rare around-the-net shot to her repertoire as she steamrolled Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei 6-1 6-2. “Even if she’s playing with one leg you’ve got to really take care of things on your own because she’s an incredible player”.

Giorgi, ranked 36th in the world, was the highest non-seed Williams could have drawn but she gave away too many easy points, particularly on her serve, which yielded 12 double faults.

Williams said: “She was definitely a tricky opponent, but it was a good match for me to play someone like that”. The last South Korean to compete at the Australian Open was Lee Hyung-taik in 2008.

Melbourne Park has three stadiums with retractable roofs – Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and Hisense Arena.

He lost in the third round in his first two trips to Melbourne Park in 2000 and ’01 and again last year – in between he won the title four times and lost one final during a run of reaching the semifinals or better in 11 straight years.

Next up for Sharapova is young American Lauren Davis, who reached the Australian Open third round for the second time.

Russia’s Daria Kasatkina now waits in the third round and Williams said she feels fit and raring to go. “That’s why I’ve been playing really well”, Nishikori said.

The world number 47 finally dropped serve, to love, while serving for the match at 5-1 before wrapping up victory after one hour and 22 minutes.

Asked over the weekend about the difficulty of the second week, Sharapova said, “I look at the draw and I know who’s here”. He’s No. 1 in the world. Play began as scheduled on those courts, including the opening match on Rod Laver between fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova and Aliaksandra Sasnovich.