Bleak day for Americans in Melbourne: Venus, Stephens out
MELBOURNE: Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens were upset early and the bleak opening day for Americans continued at the Australian Open on Monday with the women going 0 for 8 by mid-afternoon and John Isner joining them as a first-round casualty.
In her first match at Rod Laver Arena since a Williams sister was guaranteed to win the final almost 12 months ago, Venus Williams lost her opener to Belinda Bencic and ensured the title won’t stay in the family.
Venus lost last year’s final to younger sister Serena, who clinched an Open era-record 23rd major but hasn’t played a Grand Slam tournament since then because of her pregnancy and the birth of her first child.
The 6-3, 7-5 loss for Venus Williams was her first in five career meetings with Bencic, who lost to Serena in the first round last year.
“I don’t think I played a bad match. She just played above and beyond,” said seven-time major winner Venus Williams, who was playing her 18th Australian Open. “I just have to give her credit for that.
“I didn’t play so bad, I wasn’t missing every shot. Just didn’t work out.”
Bencic, who was born a couple of months after the last time there was no Williams in the second round at the Australian Open (1997), hit 32 winners, had 12 unforced errors and converted five of 11 break-point chances. Williams had 26 unforced errors and 22 winners.
Bencic credited playing with Roger Federer at the Hopman Cup — where they teamed up to win for Switzerland — with helping her recent improvement. She also had a new attitude against Williams, and she had Federer’s parents in the crowd for support.
“I was thinking a lot about the last matches. For the first matches, I think I had a little bit too much respect, played a little bit careful and safe,” Bencic said. “This time I really tried to come out and hit it big.”
US Open champion Stephens was the first American to fall, losing 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2 loss to No. 34-ranked Zhang Shuai, followed by Williams and No. 10-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe, a semifinalist here and at the U.S. Open last year, who was feeling sick and frustrated in her match which Timea Babos rallied to win 7-6 (4), 6-2.
CiCi Bellis, the WTA’s Newcomer of the Year, was also among the eight US women who were out by mid-afternoon — 16 are in the singles draw.
“Tennis is definitely a roller coaster,” Stephens said, reflecting on her eight-match losing streak since her Grand Slam breakthrough last September. “But I have learned to just not panic. It will be OK.”
No. 13-seeded Stephens had a chance to serve for the match in the 10th game of the second set but dropped her serve. She was outplayed in the tiebreaker and in the third set.
“For me now it’s not that great,” Stephen said, “but it’s nothing to panic about.”
No 16 John Isner of the US lost in four sets to Australian Matt Ebden.
Ryan Harrison bucked the trend for the Americans, beating Dudi Sela in five sets, advancing along with third-seeded Grigor Dimitrov — who beat qualifier Dennis Novak 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 — No. 10 Pablo Carreno Busta, No. 23 Gilles Muller, No. 30 Andrei Rublev and No. 31 Pablo Cuevas.
US Open finalist and No. 11-seeded Kevin Anderson was the highest-ranked man eliminated, losing in five sets to Kyle Edmund — the only British man in the draw after five-time finalist Andy Murray withdrew.
No 27 Philipp Kohlschreiber lost to Yoshihito Nishioka in five sets.
The 20-year-old Bencic saved five break points in the eighth game before a rain delay caused an almost half-hour suspension of play as the roof was closed on Rod Laver Arena. She returned on a roll, winning the next six points to hold serve and then clinch the set.
Vandeweghe was leading in her first set before a rain delay on Hisense Arena, but sickness and irritation caught up with her.
She yelled an obscenity near the end of the second set and that, combined with a time violation in a changeover while she waited for a banana, led to a point penalty.
“I felt like she was being quite in-your-face about her ‘Come ons.’ So it was more just explaining it to the umpire,” Vandeweghe said. As for the banana, she added: “I was just trying to wait for what I asked for to come and the chair umpire deemed that it wasn’t a good enough reason to wait for anything.”
Of the other U.S. women out in the first round, Sofia Kenin lost to No. 12 Julia Goerges — who extended her winning streak to 15 matches — Bellis lost to No. 30 Kiki Bertens, Alison Riske lost to Kirsten Flipkens and Taylor Townsend lost to No. 19 Magdalena Rybarikova.
French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko made a positive start with a 6-1, 6-4 win over 37-year-old Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 French Open winner, and No. 15 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Kateryna Kozlova.
Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig had a 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 win over former US Open champion Sam Stosur.
Other seeded players falling included No 24 Dominika Cibulkova, the 2014 Australian Open finalist who lost to Kaia Kanepi, and No. 31 Ekaterina Makarova.
