Venus needs rebound to advance
PARIS – Venus Williams was cruising along with a ho-hum 6-3, 4-1 lead over her 35-year-old opponent at the French Open on Monday when suddenly everything went awry.
The double-faults piled up. The forehand errors did, too, and Williams lost six consecutive games to fall behind as a drizzle fell. The crowd was rooting for the underdog, applauding in unison every time 93rd-ranked Tzipora Obziler of Israel earned a point.
When the No. 8-seeded Williams would hit a winner, the sounds of approval emanated mainly from her personal guests. “Whooo!” one of her sisters kept yelling.
“I told the people in our box, ‘Be quiet, so she can concentrate,’ ” said Williams’ father and coach, Richard. “Venus is a great thinker and a great player. I wasn’t nervous at all.”
Eventually, the six-time major champion turned things back around for a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory to reach the second round at Roland Garros before the rain grew heavier and washed out the latter part of the day’s schedule.
“I’m glad at the end that I figured it out,” Williams said.
Three-time defending men’s champion Rafael Nadal was supposed to follow her on center court, but his match never began. Among those who did play was No. 1 Roger Federer, who wasn’t tested much in a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Sam Querrey of the United States.
“You never think you’re going to be the guy that’s going to draw him when the draw comes out,” the 40th-ranked Querrey said. “But someone has to.”
The day’s most significant upset was produced by another American, 106th-ranked Wayne Odesnik, who beat No. 29 Guillermo Canas of Argentina 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8). The match lasted the minimum number of sets yet took 3 hours, 46 minutes.
“There’s not too much to say. I think he played well,” said Canas, who’s lost his past six matches, all on clay. “I didn’t play well at all.”
Odesnik, 22, was exhausted after the match and was checked by a doctor. He credited recent work with a sports psychologist for helping him play well in all of those tiebreakers.
The only other seeded man to exit on Day 2 was No. 17 Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open runner-up, to Simone Bolelli of Italy in straight sets.