Associated Press

Dubai, March 1:

Venus Williams lost in the first round for the first time in four years when she was upset by Silvia Farina Elia of Italy 7-5, 7-6 in the Dubai Women’s Open. Venus, struggling with a blister on right palm, fought back from 4-1 down in the first set to 5-5, and climbed back from tra-iling 5-2 in the second to force a tiebreaker, in which she saved seven match points, before succumbing in 2 hrs, 4 mins. Former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez and rising Indian star Sania Mirza — the oldest and youngest players in the draw — also reached the second round. Martinez, 32, defeated Shinobu Asagoe of Japan 6-3, 6-4, while 18-year-old Mirza beat Jelena Kostanic of Croatia 6-7, 6-4, 6-1. Also, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Montenegro breezed past Paola Suarez of Argentina 6-3, 6-1. Martinez, who ended a five-year title drought by winning in Pattaya City in January, raced to 5-1 in the first set, and broke Asagoe in the fifth game of the second set.

Mirza, the first Indian woman to win a WTA Tour title this month on home ground at Hyderabad, squandered a 4-1 lead in the first set against Kostanic, who prevailed 7-2 in a tiebreaker. Mirza, however, regrouped and used her forehand to telling effect to set up a second-round match against US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. Leading four seeds Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams, Anastasia Myskina and Kuznetsova received first-round byes. Earlier, Dubai Open organisers announced an increase in total prize money from $5,85,000 to $1 million this week, matching the ATP’s Dubai Open, which ended on Sunday with world No 1 Roger Federer defeating Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in the final.