Venus Williams Loses Rollercoaster Wuhan Opener

Lawn Tennis, Ace Tennis Magazine, Lawn Tennis Magazine

Venus Williams Loses Rollercoaster Wuhan Opener
By Tripp Hayden, Lawn Tennis Analyst, Posted: Sunday, September 21, 2014 1:23pm PST USA

Venus Williams Loses Rollercoaster Wuhan Opener, Caroline Garcia

WUHAN--The five time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams of the USA brought some of her biggest weapons to Wuhan including aces at speeds of up to 123 miles per hour, but it was not enough as she lost Sunday (overnight Saturday USA time) to the 20 year old incredibly talented Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(8-6) in the first round at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open in China.

Garcia went up an early break in set one to start the match before holding serve to lead 3-1.

With no further breaks of serve and with Williams serving down 2-4, the American held serve at love to reach 3-4 after striking

five time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams of the USA

Venus Williams brought some of her biggest weapons to Wuhan including aces at speeds of up to 123 miles per hour, but it was not enough.

two serves at 120 miles per hour.

Williams took a 15-40 lead in Garcia’s following service game after hitting several powerful groundstrokes. However the American then hit two forehands down the line long followed by a netted crosscourt backhand to lose the game to reach 3-5.

Williams then held serve to pull to 4-5 behind a high crosscourt forehand volley winner and a 117 miles per hour serve out wide.

With Garcia serving for the set, Williams hit a crosscourt backhand long before the Frenchwoman hit a backhand volley winner to reach 30-0.

The American struck a down the line backhand wide to face triple set point which Garcia converted on setpoint one with an ace out wide.

For the set, Williams had been 18 for 18 in first serve points won but had only been 6 for 21 in second serve points won and zero for five in break points won.

In set two, Williams broke serve to go ahead 2-0 before Garcia hit back to level the set at 4 all.

With Williams serving at 30 all, the American struck a 123 miles per hour ace down the tee before surviving a four deuce game to hold serve and then breaking Garcia’s serve at love to take the set.

In the final set, Williams powered to a 5-2 lead then held a match point serving at 5-3 before hitting three forehand errors to drop serve.

Garcia would level the set at 5 all before Williams would survive another four deuce service game to hold serve to reach 6-5.

The Frenchwoman held serve to reach the tiebreaker.

Williams, who plays an extremely hard hitting power game, doesn’t fair well in a seven point tiebreaker where each point is key and each error is costly.

However this year the American had been mixing in more topspin in her groundstrokes so it was hopeful that she could win this tiebreaker after losing several others in close matches earlier this year.

Williams went down 2-5 in the tiebreaker and saved matchpoints after falling behind 4-6 to reach 6 all.

But it was not to be as the American netted a crosscourt backhand then hit a forehand down the line return wide to drop the match after 2 hours and 31 minutes of play.

Williams can be proud of her fight however as both players won an equal 115 points and were it not for her 43 unforced errors, likely there would have been a different result.