Injured Venus Williams crashes in Luxembourg Friday, September 29 2006 15:30 Hrs (IST) - World Time -
Luxembourg:
The left wrist injury that sidelined Venus Williams for the past three months comes back to haunt her Thursday (28 Sep, 2006) in the second round of the WTA tournament here. Trailing Polish qualifier Agnieszka Radwanska 4-3 in the first set, the pain becomes almost unbearable for Williams who resorts to hitting backhand slices and allows her opponent to take the next eight games.
Radwanska stays focused in her 6-3, 6-0 victory and will play top seed Elena Dementieva in the quarter-finals.
"I always had a big problem with my left wrist," Williams says.
"There was nothing I could do about it today. I felt it at the end of the first set and couldn't hit my (double-handed) backhand anymore. I had a good slice but I'm not used to having to play on a slice."
Radwanska reaches her first Tour quarterfinal.
"It was a great match and I'm so happy," Radwanska says.
"It was my first match against Venus. The first few games were very tough but the second set was much easier. I could see she had problems because she couldn't hit her backhand as well."
Nadia Petrova's attempt to reach the quarterfinals also fell short.
Unseeded Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy, 6-4, 6-3, eliminates the Russian.