Nadia Petrova Dumps Venus Out Of Paris

Venus Williams was the biggest casualty in the women’s draw yesterday as she fell to Nadia Petrova in straight sets.

The American and second seed was the player in form coming into the tournament after a good run at the Madrid Open, losing the final to Rezai, and was perhaps favoured over her sister Serena for the title.

It’s was a third day in row on court for Petrova as she had to return on Saturday to complete her match with Rezai after poor light stopped play on Friday night.

But the Russian showed no sign of fatigue from her third round clash with the French woman, winning eight six in the final set, as she got the first break in the fifth game.

Williams tried to hit back with break point chances in the eight and tenth games but Petrova played her way out of trouble and wrapped up the opening set 6-4.

Into the second and Williams hit back in the second game as she broke Petrova. But the lead didn’t last very long as the Russian hit back in the very next game to once again get the set back on serve.

Petrova broke a second time in the seventh game before going on to break Williams for a third time to seal a famous 6-4 6-3 win,

Petrova will now face fellow Russian Elena Dementieva, who has found her form as the tournament has progressed, and she enjoyed a straight forward 6-1 6-3 win over Chanelle Scheepers.

Justine Henin returned to court yesterday to complete her third round match with twelfth seed Maria Sharapova, after it was halted on Saturday night due to bad light.

Henin had raced to a 6-2 in the opening set before Sharapova had finally cut the errors out of her game and hit back in the second, taking it 6-3, when the match was stopped.

And it was Sharapova who made the brighter start when they returned to court as she broke early and had the chance of the double break.

But the Russian couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity that she had made for herself and Henin hit back taking five of the next six games to win 6-2 4-6 6-3.

Henin will now play the seventh seed Samantha Stosur who has crept through the draw with little attention or trouble.

Caroline Wozniacki was made to fight for her victory yesterday in a three hour encounter with the much favoured Italian Flavia Pennetta.

The opening two sets both went to a tie break and were shared between Wozniacki and Pannetta as they found themselves in a third set decider.

This is where the Dane excelled as she dominated the play and the Italian’s challenge fell away and wrapped up the match 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (4-7) 6-2.

She will now face Francesca Schiavone in the quarter final after the Italian saw off Maria Kirilenko, who could be a real threat on the grass, in straight sets 6-4 6-4.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw