Flushing Meadows, NY (Sports Network) - Seven-time major titlist
and two-time U.S. Open champion Venus Williams was ousted
from the final Grand Slam event of the season after falling to
China's Zheng Jie on a rainy Wednesday.
Zheng came through for a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5) second-round
victory in a match that lasted more than three hours.
"I want to say sorry guys," Zheng said, referring to Williams not
having a chance for her third title in Flushing Meadows before the
home crowd. "Today was a tough match for me. In the second
set she was playing so great and in the final set we were fighting
each other."
Several women's matches scheduled for Wednesday were
pushed back a day due to the wet weather. Among those
included in the postponements was world No. 1 and defending
champion Serena Williams. Her second-round match against
Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva was postponed until Thursday.
Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska and fifth-seeded Li Na were a
pair of winners.
Venus, whose match started late afternoon and lasted into the
night at Louis Armstrong Stadium, was delayed a couple of
minutes with the third set even, 5-5, due to drizzling conditions.
The American rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the tiebreaker, but was
set back due to 44 unforced errors. She equaled the tiebreaker,
5-5, when Zheng sent a return long. Venus then tried a backhand
at the net, but never got it over. Zheng secured a third-round
berth when Venus sent a backhand wide.
"Today was tough," Zheng said of the rain. "In the second set I
lost my concentration. She played so great."
Next up for Zheng will be 18th-seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez
Navarro, who dropped American Coco Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-4.
Meanwhile, last year's Wimbledon runner-up Radwanska, of
Poland, got past Spaniard Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor 6-0, 7-5 at
Armstrong Stadium, while this year's Australian Open runner-up
and the former French Open champion Li, of China, handled
Swede Sofia Arvidsson 6-2, 6-2 at Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie
Jean King National Tennis Center. Radwanska will meet Russian
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Friday.
Li was happy to beat the rain on Day 3.
"It's tough for them," she said, referring to all the players who still
had singles matches to complete. "For me, just relax all day and
do whatever I want."
Also Wednesday, No. 30 seed Laura Robson of Great Britain beat
France's Caroline Garcia, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5); and a 32nd-seeded
Pavlyuchenkova eased past Aussie Ashleigh Barty 6-4, 6-0. Li will
face Robson in the third round.
The 16-time Grand Slam champion Serena is a four-time U.S.
Open champ and two-time runner-up. She beat Victoria Azarenka
in last year's final in Flushing and is also the reigning French Open
champ.
In addition to Serena's match against Voskoboeva, officials also
postponed matches involving No. 8 seed Angelique Kerber, No. 9
Jelena Jankovic and No. 25 Kaia Kanepi. Jankovic is a former No. 1
who lost to Serena in the 2008 U.S. Open finale.