Black Tennis Pros

HONG KONG — American champion Venus Williams beat teenaged Danish sensation Caroline Wozniacki in a Hong Kong exhibition match Thursday which was shortened to one set because of rain.

Williams, 29, got off to a slow start, trailing the 19-year-old Wozniacki 3-1 before a series of aces and blistering groundstrokes helped her pull ahead, winning the set 6-4.

Williams, a seven time Grand Slam winner, said she was happy with her performance against the Dane, who is ranked fourth in the world.

"I felt pretty good playing against such a competitive player," Williams told reporters.

"She plays so well."

The American struggled for much of 2009, losing her Wimbledon crown to sister Serena and then crashing out of the Beijing Open in October.

Earlier Thursday, Belarussian Victoria Azarenka, 20, beat Argentine Gisela Dulko, 24, by a 6-1 margin.


The Hong Kong tournament features four teams with three players each -- representing Russia, Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific -- in singles and mixed doubles play. The tournament wraps up Saturday.

On Wednesday, former world number one Russian Maria Sharapova pulled off a comeback win against China's Zheng Jie 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, while Russia's Vera Zvonareva easily overpowered Japanese newcomer Ayumi Morita, beating her 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour.

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TOKYO, Japan - Nine of the world's Top 10 players will be in Tokyo this week for the Toray Pan Pacific Open, a $2,000,000 Premier-level tournament held on the outdoor hardcourts of the Ariake Colosseum.

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During the second round of their Australian Open doubles match, American sisters Venus and Serena Williams got a little more than they bargained for. During one of the changeovers, a "gentleman" clothed only in a t-shirt streaked out onto the court and danced around for roughly a minute much to the hilarity of Venus Williams. The surprised look on her face followed by laughter was priceless. Serena gave the guy the side eye and occasionally peeked at him.

Continuing to laugh at what she had seen, Serena said in an interview, "I just thought, my eyes, my innocent eyes."

"First, I saw him jump over and then I noticed he didn't have underwear on," Williams said after her third-round singles victory over China's Peng Shuai. "I thought, 'OK, I must be seeing things.'

"He ran out on the court. I was thinking, 'I hope he doesn't come,' because he was pretty close to me and V. I was like, 'I hope he doesn't come, he's too close.' Then I thought, 'This is crazy.' Doesn't really happen too much."

On why the man was allowed to be on the court for as long as he was, Australian Open officials stated, "The focus of the on-court security team is always on player protection. They are instructed not to chase offenders as their focus at all times must remain on the players. The on-court actions of the security personnel reflected this focus on player protection."

After the rump shaker left the court, the sisters went on the do what they came to do and defeated Japan's Ayumi Morita and Germany's Martina Muller 6-3, 6-3.

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