Black Tennis Pros

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Second-seeded Venus Williams struggled to advance at the Family Circle Cup on Wednesday, beating Sania Mirza of India 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.

It took the fifth-ranked Williams almost 2 1/2 hours to defeat the 100th-ranked Mirza on the green clay of stadium court at the tennis center on Daniel Island. Williams, who won the Family Circle five years ago, is now 3-0 against Mirza.

"When she's playing against me, she's got to go for it and I think there's also a sense of nothing to lose," Williams said. "When you look at the numbers and the rankings and statistics, you know, I'm supposed to win this match, so I think that gives her an opportunity to swing freely."

It appeared Williams had the match well in hand, winning the first set 6-1, although it took 46 minutes to do so. She led 3-1 in the second before Mirza rattled off five straight games, including breaking Williams at love to take a 5-3 lead and holding serve in the final game, which went to deuce eight times.

Williams recovered to easily win the third set.

"These kind of matches are great to pull out," she said. "I've been in these situations before, so I rely on that."

Photos by AP

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American Alexandra Stevenson had the pleasure of having more than the Charleston, South Carolina tennis fans observe her match against Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan - dear old dad was in the stands.

Former NBA superstar Julius 'Dr. J' Erving sat in the stands of the Family Circle Cup and for the first time witnessed Alexandra play a tour match. As depicted in ESPN's "Outside The Lines, Reaching Out: Alexandra Stevenson And Julius "Dr. J" Erving," the father and daughter have been slowly building their newfound relationship.




Of Erving's visit Stevenson said, “He actually wanted to come to one of the challenger tournaments, and I was like, I don’t think you should come there. We play on public parks, and some of them are a bit sketchy.”

“This is a nice tournament to come to, and I think he knows the tournament director, Bob Moran, and he just picked this tournament.”

“We were never in a bad place, I just didn’t know him. So it’s good now. I mean, obviously, it’s still odd, because you are getting to know somebody. But it’s nice that I know him, and he is supporting me out here, coming to watch me play."

Stevenson was not able to bring in a win in front of her father, as she was defeated by Amanmuradova 6-2, 6-4. When asked if having Erving present made her nervous Stevenson said, “I actually didn’t even see him until the second set.”

“And he can see how hard tennis is. It’s not like basketball where you have a whole team of support. So it’s nice that he came out here.”

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American Shenay Perry, a qualifier, upset 15th-seeded Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-1 on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina.

At the same tournament, 'can't stop won't stop' American Angela Haynes had her marathon of tennis halted by Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 6-4, 5-7, 6-0.

This is usually not a good thing, but in Haynes' case, the opportunity to rest just might be.

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Newly coiffed Frenchman Gael Monfils may be stylishly ready for summer, but he definitely wasn't ready for the red clay courts of the Masters Series Monte Carlo Tennis Tournament today.

For the man who reached the semifinals of the French Open in 2008, you would never have known that Monfils can find comfort in playing on clay. He appeared to be totally ill at ease with the surface. Additionally, Monfils had both knees taped.

Monfils' opponent, Serb Janko Tipsarevic, appeared to be much more prepared and took Monfils to task. In little more than an hour Tipsarevic defeated Monfils 6-3, 6-1.

With regard to his bandaged knees, Monfils told reporters "No (I was not bothered by the bandages). I'm playing with it and I'm getting used to it,"

"They keep my knees very tight. I have pain when I take them off. In fact, my knees hurt when I climb the stairs."

Well, looks like you've got plenty of time to rest them now.

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(l-r) Mashona, Raquel Kops-Jones, Ahsha Rolle, MaliVai Washington, Jill Craybas, Shenay Perry, Abigail Spears and Melanie Oudin.

Mashona and fellow ladies of tennis pop in on big brother MaliVai Washington (c) in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Raquel Kops-Jones, Abigail Spears and Mashona in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Photos printed with permission of Mashona Washington

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I'm tired and energized for her!

American Angela Haynes was unable to compete on Saturday for day one of qualifying at the Family Circle Cup, Charleston, South Carolina because she was in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida playing a doubles semifinal match.

Haynes and doubles partner Liga Dekmeijere of Latvia were knocked out of the MPS Group Championships by the team of Sania Mirza and Chia-Jung Chuang 6-4 6-3.

So what does Haynes do next? She make her way to Charleston, South Carolina where she has to play two rounds of qualifying on Sunday, and of course win both, for a potential slot in the main draw.

And damn it, she does it!

Haynes will meet Russian Alla Kudryavtseva in the first round.

American Shenay Perry also prevailed in the qualifying rounds to secure a spot in the main draw. Ahsha Rolle, Danielle Mills, and Mashona Washington were all eliminated.

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