Venus Williams - David Horton

Venus Williams joined her sister Serena in the second round with a less than convincing 6-4 6-3 victory over 17 year French girl Alize Cornet who is ranked 118 and has won only 5 matches this year on the WTA tour.

The American, ranked 27, took the opening set 6-4 with a running forehand crosscourt pass having saved break points on serve at 4-4. With both girls making far more errors than winners (a total of 60 to 12), this match will not go down as a classic although it was highly competitive.

The second set saw Williams surge to 2-0 only to be pegged back to 2-2 by her gritty opponent. In the end though, Venus had just enough firepower and experience to prevail in 1 hour and 27 minutes.

The 2002 finalist despite not at her best, was grateful for a good workout:
"I felt like I definately got to hit a lot of balls", Williams said. "I was clear especially towards the end on how I wanted to execute.

"She returned a lot of balls, but this is clay, and I have to expect that. Maybe she was surprised that I returned so many balls too; but I'm ready to play a lot of shots. I think my movement is really good and my slide is fine."

Overall, the American is happy with her game at the moment.

"I feel good. I think the most important thing is that I'm on tour, and as long as I'm on tour I feel like really good things can happen to me. So it's just important for me to stay in the tournament and be healthy."

Despite losing to her illustrious opponent, Cornet was proud of her performance.

"Of course it would have been better had I won, but this was a good match for me; I played well", she insisted. "I was a bit afraid at the beginning, but I really enjoyed it. I had great fun."

Also into the second round is Holland's Michaella Krajicek, a 6-3 6-3 winner over Severine Bremmond of France.

Andre Jones
Roland Garros
Paris

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