Venus buoyed by memories of past glory

Starts Qatar Open on winning note by beating Martic.

DOHA: Venus Williams, who won the WTA season-end championships here six years ago, made a winning start to the Qatar Open which brought back great memories at a familiar venue.

The seven-time grand slam winner overcame both a blustery wind and Petra Martic, only the second Croatian woman to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam event, 6-2, 6-2.

Venus struck 15 clean winners with her uncompromising ground strokes, and although she did not land her first serves as frequently as she might have liked, she advanced threateningly to the forecourt, scoring ten times with volleys.



"It's windy and, you know, it's winter in the desert, and the weather can be a little up in the air, so I was just happy to keep the errors down," said Venus, who believes that if she can do that regularly she will still beat top level players.

"Unforced errors are always a key for me. Keeping them down makes my life easier. The matches are cleaner, and it helps me win in straight sets.

"So that's my goal this week," added Venus, who has been hampered by fitness issues in the two years since she was last in the world's top 20.

In other matches, Roberta Vinci, the 11th seeded Italian, was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by Tsvetana Pironkova. Other winners included Peng Shuai, the Chinese number two, who came from behind in both sets to beat Nadia Petrova, a former titleholder here.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2014.

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