Eighth seed Venus Williams and third seed Jelena Jankovic moved into the third round of Roland Garros in straight sets.

William’s victory was more dominant than Jankovic’s. The American defeated Tunisia's Selima Sfar 6-2 6-4, while Jankovic had to come from behind in the second set to beat New Zealand's Marina Erakovic 6-2 7-6 (7-5).

Despite making 25 unforced errors, Williams was too strong for the 31-year-old qualifier ranked 241st in the world. As for Jankovic, she took the first set in 37 minutes but struggled to wrap up her victory after needing treatment on her thigh. World No.80 Erakovic served for the second set at 6-5 and also led 5-3 in the tie-break, but Jankovic then won four straight points and clinched victory.

In the third round of the 2008 French Open, Venus Williams will face Italy’s Flavia Pennetta, seeded 26th, and Jelena Jankovic will play Slovakian 28th seed Dominika Cibulkova. (via BBC, photos: Getty Images)

Share This

Defending champion Jelena Jankovic, seeded fourth, dismantled Venus Williams' power game and advanced to the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome. Jankovic defeated Williams 5-7 6-3 6-2.

"I was fighting for every point," said the world No.4. "Venus is really strong, and to win you have to really play your best."

I didn’t get to see the match, but as I can read in the news, Williams was let down by her forehand.

In the semis Jelena Jankovic will meet either ninth-seeded Patty Schnyder or second-seeded Maria Sharapova, who are now playing their quarterfinal. The other semifinal will feature French qualifier Alize Cornet, who advanced as injured Serena Williams withdrew, and sixth seed Russian Anna Chakvetadze.

Share This

Today I woke up with the news that Venus Williams will be sidelined for an indefinite period of time. What? How did this come about?

"I've just been having some issues that I need to resolve, so I'm working on that at the moment and I'm hoping to be back playing as soon as possible," Williams said Tuesday at the Bausch & Lomb Championships, from which she had withdrawn earlier because of an undisclosed medical problem. "I'm not going to get any further into it, but of course I love the sport." What does this "but of course I love the sport" mean? It makes her statement sound serious. Read more »

Share This

Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Venus Williams 6-4 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Kuznetsova’s victory spoiled the prospect of an all-Williams semifinal. So, instead of her older sister, Serena Williams, who beat Justine Henin in the Sony Ericsson Open quarters, will next face the Russian world No.4.

"I just felt a little bit off," said Venus, who has won the tournament in 1998, 1999 and 2001. "I didn't have the answers today, and she played well.

"I'm always happy for Serena to win. It would have been obviously very exciting for me to win too, but it just didn't happen." (via xinhuanet)

Share This

United States will be without Venus and Serena Williams for the Fed Cup semifinal against Russia in Moscow.

A few days ago the news went out that Lindsay Davenport tried to persuade Venus to play Fed Cup, but Venus smiled and simply said "Nope". Serena’s answer was similar.

In an interview after the match against Marina Erakovic at the Sony Ericsson Open, Venus explained the story behind her decision to miss the Fed Cup.

"You know, I've tried to support Fed Cup as much as I could these few years, but sometimes I just get tired. Moscow's a long way, and I've had quite a few long trips already this year," said world No.7 Venus Williams.

"I'm going to be playing Amelia and Charleston, so I just couldn't play five weeks in a row. Obviously, my commitment to the tour is very important to me also, so I just can't do everything." (image via SI.com)

Share This