Key Biscayne, March 23:

In her first match in a month, Venus Williams dropped the first four games before rallying to beat Yuliana Fedak 7-5, 6-2 in the first round of the Sony Ericsson Open on Thursday.

Unforced errors plagued Williams early, and she fell behind 4-0 in 15 minutes before charging back. She had 28 winners to two for Ukraine’s Fedak.

Slowed by injuries, Williams is unseeded and playing in only her third tournament since July. She won in Memphis in February for her 34th career title, and first since Wimbledon in 2005.

In other women’s matches, Acapulco champion Emilie Loit came from behind to beat Pattaya City winner Sybille Bammer 2-6, 6-3, 6-1, 17-year-old Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan downed Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain 6-2, 6-3 to earn a second-round match against top-seeded Maria Sharapova, and Michaella Krajicek put away wild card Anna Tatishvili 6-3, 7-6 (2).

In men’s play, Sam Querrey of the US beat Russia’s Igor Andreev 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 and will face

two-time defending champion Roger Federer on Saturday.

Guillermo Canas, who ended Roger Federer’s 41-match winning streak on March 11 at Indian Wells, beat Tim Henman 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. Former finalist Sebastien Grosjean won for the first time since the Australian Open when he defeated Martin Verkerk 6-3, 6-4.

Grosjean’s struggle and decline in the rankings was evident when he wasn’t seeded at Key Biscayne for the first time since 1999, when he reached the final and lost to Richard Krajicek. His third win of the year set him up against Richard Gasquet, who replaced Grosjean as France’s No 1 player in 2005. Grosjean won their only previous encounter at the 2005 Montreal Masters.

Vince Spadea won his opening match in Key Biscayne for the 12th time in 13 visits by beating fellow American Robby Ginepri 6-1, 6-3. Spadea has beaten three top-10 players in Key Biscayne while achieving one semi-final and another quarter-final berth, and he’ll next face world No 11 David Nalbandian, whom he has not beaten. Other winners included Evgeny Korolev of Russia, Potito Starace of Italy, and Florian Mayer of Germany.