Reuters Posted online: Saturday, January 24, 2004 at 1301 hours IST
Melbourne, January 24: Venus Williams crashed out of the Australian Open in a 6-4 7-6 third-round upset by fellow American Lisa Raymond on Saturday as her comeback from injury came to a shuddering halt.
A tired-looking Williams, playing her first tournament for six months after a stomach muscle injury, looked flat from the start and committed 44 unforced errors in a mistaken-riddled performance.
"I'm pretty much in shock. I still can't believe it," said Williams, who was struck down by an abdominal strain after losing last year's Wimbledon final to younger sister Serena.
"It's definitely going to settle in this evening. It will be like, 'Noooooo!' That's the way I feel after every loss."
"So I have two weeks off now. Woe is me. I'll be a tennis tourist...go see the Twelve Apostles now, who knows, Ayers Rock -- all those good things," she said of two famous Australian landmarks.
Williams, four times a grand slam winner and runner-up to Serena in Melbourne last year, struggled for accuracy throughout the 89-minute match.
A wild forehand gave doubles specialist Raymond victory on her second match point at 6-5 in the second-set tiebreak.
NO EXCUSES
It was her first win in four attempts against Venus, who offered no excuses for her shock defeat.
"Lisa kept it coming, She had a lot of shots rockin' and rollin' today," said the 23-year-old Venus, who fired 14 aces but made just 56 percent of her first serves.
"What I need to do is just put my break behind me and keep moving on with the now. It's all good because I feel I can do it. But it just wasn't today."
"I definitely had a lot of high hopes to do well here and, of course, ultimately, to win. That's the way it is. You win some, you lose some," she said.
Raymond, who has three grand slam doubles titles to her name, proved she could also play singles with an inspired performance, relentlessly keeping the pressure on Venus in stamina-sapping conditions at Rod Laver Arena.
"I knew I had to come into today's match and really step up to the plate. I didn't let myself down," said a teary-eyed Raymond, who had never been beyond the third round of the Australian Open singles in 10 previous visits.
The 30-year-old plays French wildcard Tatiana Golovin in the fourth round.
