Painful end, Injury forces Venus to pull out at Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP):

Venus Williams lasted just seven points in her third-round match yesterday at the Australian Open, forced to withdraw due to injury from a Grand Slam singles match for the first time in her career.

After losing the first game to Andrea Petkovic of Germany and trailing in the second, Williams stretched to her right to return a serve, hit the ball and then cried out in pain, clutching towards her stomach on her right side. It was soon clear that she couldn't continue.

"Obviously, I just couldn't play," Williams said. "I couldn't move, it was too painful."

Her right thigh was already heavily bandaged from an injury she sustained in the first set of her second round match on Wednesday, when she beat Sandra Zahlavova in three sets. Afterwards, Williams said the injury was in her 'psoas' muscle, which flexes the hip and spinal column.

"The last 48 hours, I just did as much pain management as I could," she said. "A lot of times when you play, you get that adrenalin and that blocks pain. I just didn't get enough of that today. I was hoping for some magic that I could recover."

The 30-year-old Williams waved to the Rod Laver Arena crowd and appeared to be on the verge of tears as she walked off the court. Her younger sister, defending champion Serena, didn't even make it to Melbourne Park because of a foot injury.

"It's super disappointing because this is just not how I envisioned my Australian Open being," Venus Williams said. "I'm just going to focus obviously on getting healthy and coming back because I love tennis and I've got a lot of great tennis in me."

'It's a pity ... '

Petkovic was surprised by the sudden end to the match.

"I feel very weird about how the things went," she said. "It's a pity and I feel very sorry. I just hope she gets better. She's such a great champion."

Justine Henin departed the tournament a lot sooner than she expected, too, but No. 1-seeded Caroline Wozniacki is still around, providing entertainment on and off the court.

Henin, the 2010 finalist, was beaten by two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 7-6 (8) in a mild third-round upset, while Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova all advanced.

Wozniacki provided as much fanfare in her post-match media conference as she did during her 6-4, 6-3 win over Dominika Cibulkova.

Pretending to be irritated at being considered 'boring' by some critics, she came prepared with a monologue to answer any question that might be asked about the match, and then some.

"I always gave the same answers," Wozniacki said. "I find it quite funny because I always get the same questions, so I'm just going to start with the answer."

More interesting

What transpired was one of the funniest schticks ever to grace the tiered news conference room under Rod Laver Arena. Once she got the usual match comments out of the way, Wozniacki had a chance to be asked about global warming, her prowess on the piano, the game of cricket and what she's looking for in a boyfriend.

"Hopefully, this was a little bit different than usual and now you can maybe give me some questions that are a little bit more interesting," the 20-year-old Wozniacki said.

Henin and Kuznetsova didn't have much fun following Wozniacki on the court. Kuznetsova twice had chances to serve out the match, but Henin broke her both times.

Henin was only weeks into a comeback from a career break from the tour when she lost the final last year to Serena Williams, the third time in four appearances that she'd reached the championship match at Melbourne. Her comeback season was derailed when she injured her right elbow at Wimbledon and didn't play again in 2010.

"There's no excuse, even if I know I'm not at 100 per cent. She was better than me today," Henin said in remarks translated from French. "I made way too many errors."

It was Henin's first loss in a major to Kuznetsova, the former French and US Open champion and her worst run at a Grand Slam event since Wimbledon in 2005.

Sharapova, who won the 2008 Australian women's title, struggled to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Julia Goerges of Germany. French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy also won, beating Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-0, 7-6 (2).

No. 9 Li Na of China, who reached the semi-finals last year before losing in two tiebreaker sets to eventual champion Serena Williams, advanced 6-2, 6-1 over Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.

Schiavone and Kuznetsova, who will play each other in the fourth round, had what Kuznetsova called a misunderstanding after a Fed Cup match won by Italy over Russia.

"We didn't talk for some time, I didn't shake her hand," Kuznetsova said. "So after we spoke in the locker room - we are completely over it. I said sorry or whatever."

Federer was back to his vintage best, beating Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.