Venus Escapes At Australian Open

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 18, 1999 / 5:37 PM EST / CBS Sportsline

Marcelo Rios, gone. Goran Ivanisevic, gone. Alex Corretja, almost gone.

With Pete Sampras staying home, the Australian Open faced some gaping holes in the men's ranks on its first day, and came awfully close to losing Venus Williams, too.

A stress fracture in his back knocked out the top-seeded Rios, the 1998 runner-up. Doctors advised him to rest until March.

For No. 11 seed Ivanisevic, a three-time Wimbledon finalist, it was a pinched nerve in the back.

Ivanisevic's withdrawal was announced early Monday. Rios' departure was revealed after Corretja, the second seed, came within three points of losing to a Japanese player ranked 116th and playing in his first Grand Slam event.

Corretja bounced back with luck and passing shots against Takao Suzuki.

Williams, seeded fifth, was two points away from being ousted by 82nd-ranked Silvija Talaja of Croatia when she decided that "this is not my fate. This is someone else's fate. I can't go out like this, and I had to hold serve." She did, and won 3-6, 6-3, 9-7.

It was an easier day for the U.S. Open champions.

Lindsay Davenport, the WTA Tour's No. 1, breezed past Gala Leon Garcia of Spain 6-2, 6-2 in the first women's match on center court.

Third seed Patrick Rafter took the court next, and quickly beat Germany's Oliver Gross 6-2, 6-4, 6-3. Fellow Australian Mark Philippoussis, the U.S. Open runner-up and 14th seed, defeated American Geoff Grant 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in a night match.

Before the appearances by Davenport and Rafter, Corretja shared center stage with Suzuki, a 22-year-old seeking to become the first Japanese man since 1989 to win a match in the Australian Open.

Suzuki, who mixed deep angles with touch shots to keep Corretja running, served for the match at 5-4 in the fourth set after slamming four consecutive aces for 4-4 and then breaking the Spaniard with a stunning drop volley.

But Corretja rallied from that crisis and again from 0-3 in the tiebreaker, finally winning 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.

"I'm a really good fighter even if I'm not playing well," Corretja said. "He just played fantastic tennis. He served unbelievably. Even his second serve was aggressive. I was almost knocked down."

Her fans think Venus Williams is out of this world, but she was almost out of this tournament instead. (AP)

The departure of Rios and Sampras' absence left Corretja, Rafter, Carlos Moya and Andre Agassi with a mathematical chance of taking over the No. 1 ranking.

Tim Henman, Richard Krajicek and Karol Kucera all won matche. Henman, seeded sixth, beat Karim Alami of Morocco 6-3, 6-2, 6-1; No. 9 Krajicek defeated another Moroccan, Hicham Arazi, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-4, 6-2; and No. 7 Kucera beat Fernando Vicente of Spain 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.

Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten, the 1997 French Open champion, beat South African Marcos Ondruska 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, and Thomas Enqvist, winner of two warmup tournaments, extended his 1999 winning streak to nine matches by beating American Jan-Michael Gambill 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

Michael Chang, a 1996 finalist who has fallen to 27th in the rankings, opened with a 7-6 (9-7), 6-3, 6-3 victory over New Zealand's Brett Steven.

Spain's Alberto Berasategui, who ousted crowd favorites Rafter and Agassi last year, went out in the first round. He retired with cramps in the fifth set while trailing American Jeff Tarango 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 4-1.

In women's matches, Williams dumped easy forehands into the net and sprayed unforced errors in falling behind 4-5, love-30 in the final set.

"When you're at your lowest, you can definitely go up," she said. "There is no other way to go except up. ... I am definitely going to be out there working and practicing if I want this title."

Davenport, who beat defending champion Martina Hingis in straight sets Saturday in the Adidas International, said after ousting Leon Garcia, "I'm very confident on the court. Confidence within myself is more important than installing fear in my opponent."

Hingis plays her first-round match Tuesday against American Lilia Osterloh.

Also seeing his first action Tuesday will be defending men's champion Petr Korda, playing under a cloud after being spared a ban for a positive drug test at Wimbledon last year.

Wimbledon Women's Champion Jana Novotna, the No. 3 seed, opened with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over France's Anne-Gaelle Sidot.

Anke Huber, a semifinalist last year, edged 13th seed Irina Spirlea of Romania; No. 8 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland beat American Erika de Lone 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; No. 9 Conchita Martinez defeated Czech player Adriana Gersi 6-3, 6-3; No. 11 Dominique Van Roost beat Nadejda Petrova of Russia 6-3, 6-4; and No. 15 Natasha Zvereva ousted Slovakia's Katarina Studenikova 6-3, 7-5.