Black Tennis Pros

At the Internazionali BNL D'Italia today American Venus Williams grimaced, chewed her finger nail, grunted, fell down and more; but most importantly, she won.

The third round match against Russian Anna Chakvetadze was no less involved than Venus' second round match against the Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova. It took Venus nearly 2 1/2 hours to defeat Chakvetadze 6-0, 6-7(8/10), 6-4.



At the end of the first set I was positive that Venus would probably relinquish maybe one or two games in the second set, but it would be over quickly - not so. Venus' double faults and errors increased and Chakvetadze did what she could to take advantage. It was not the best looking match I've ever seen.

Nonetheless, Venus prevailed, and no matter how you break it down, victory is all that really matters.

Read the rest of this post...........

(HONG KONG) Venus Williams beat Anna Chakvetadze in straight sets Friday

Chakvetadze played well in the first set, responding to Williams' power-hitting with crafty counter-punching and big hitting of her own, but the Russian couldn't maintain her form in the second set.

"She's able to chase down a lot of balls," Williams said. "Against a player like that, it's just important to focus on what's happening on my side of the net and realize that I might have to hit two or three extra (balls). The reply might be a little shorter so I might have the chance to come in to be more aggressive."

Chakvetadze was up 4-2 in the first set, but Williams broke back in the eighth game. The Russian then missed two straight forehands in the tiebreaker to give Williams a 6-0 lead.

"It's tough to play her," Chakvetadze said. "She hits very hard."

Williams broke Chakvetadze twice to take a 5-1 lead in the second set, but the Russian saved two match points to hold serve in the seventh game and then broke Williams to stay in the match. However, Williams broke right back, sealing the win as Chakvetadze missed a forehand down the line.

Williams will play Zvonareva and Dulko faces Chakvetadze on Saturday, before a final doubles match.

Read the rest of this post...........