| Venus Williams (USA) |
6 |
6 |
| Anastasia Rodionova (RUS) |
3 |
0 |
Making a triumphant return to the Acura Classic, tenth-seeded Venus Williams of the United States powered her way to an impressive 6-3, 6-0, victory over Russia’s Anastasia Rodionova in a first round match.
Playing for the first time at the La Costa Resort and Spa since 2002 when she won the third of her three straight singles titles, Williams looked confident and relaxed from the opening point of the match.
Stroking the ball cleanly and crisply, Williams won the first set with a single service break in the eighth game as much of the large crowd was still getting settled in their seats.
In the second set, Williams made fewer errors and played more aggressively as she challenged Rodionova with strong service returns.
Williams made the night session crowd gasp at 3-0, 30-15 in the second set as she blasted a 126 mph ace past the young Russian.
Minutes later, Williams, who did not face a single break point on her serve, put an exclamation point on the 50-minute match when she stroked a forehand down the line winner on match point.
Williams dropped only 10 points in winning the second set at love in 21 minutes.
- Williams is ranked 16 in the world.
- Williams advances to a second round match against the winner of the Virginie Razzano / Yaroslava Shvedova match.
- This was the first career head-to-head match between Williams and Rodionova.
- Williams has represented the U.S. in the Olympics and Fed Cup play.
- Williams has won 35 career singles titles and 10 career doubles titles.
- Williams is making her eighth career Acura Classic appearance. She won the title here in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
- With her first-round victory, she has won 15 consecutive matches at the La Costa Resort and Spa.
- Rodionova is ranked 81 in the world.
- Rodionova reached the third round of Wimbledon in 2006
- Rodionova was playing in her second career Acura Classic. She reached the second round here in 2005 as a qualifier.
- Rodionova was a mixed doubles finalist at Wimbledon in 2003.
For more match summaries, please click here.
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