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V. Williams says she is ready to climb rankings again
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. (AP) -- Venus Williams says she is physically fit and ready to regain the form that helped her win five grand slam singles titles.
Williams will play her first clay-court match of the year Tuesday in the first round of the Bausch & Lomb Championship. Williams -- who will play Aravane Rezai of France -- won the event in 2002 when she was ranked No. 1, beating Justine Henin in a three-set tiebreaker.
"I feel really good," Williams said. "I had a great tournament in Memphis and a great tournament in Miami (last week) although I would have liked to do better.
"Every tournament is important to me because I don't play as much as the next player so it's important for me to play well each time I play."
After finishing no worse than 11th in the WTA Tour season-ending rankings from 1998 through 2005, Williams finished No. 48 a year ago. A wrist injury has limited her to just one tournament this year -- the Regions Morgan Championship in Memphis, Tenn., in February.
Williams won that event, but it was a lower-level event on the WTA Tour's schedule.
"I'm very eager to get my ranking up but realize I have to wait and quite possibly have to play more tournaments," said Williams, who is ranked No. 32. "Or I have to stay in there and win the big tournaments like (sister) Serena.
"I just have to be patient ... but I want it tomorrow," she said.
If Williams gets by Rezai, she'll meet No. 4 seed Patty Schnyder in the second round.
Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain was the only seeded player to lose in the first day of action of the $600,000 tournament, the first clay-court event on the season. Garrigues, the No. 14 seed, lost to Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, 7-6 (4), 6-2.
Sybille Bammer of Austria, the No. 13 seed, got a 6-3, 6-1 win over Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.
Two of the six American players in the tournament lost first-round matches. Jill Craybas was beaten by Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik 7-6 (6), 6-1 and Meghann Shaughnessy lost to Croatia's Karolina Sprem 6-4, 7-6 (5). The only American winner was Meilen Tu, who posted a 7-5, 6-1 win over Italy's Flavia Pennetta.
Two other American players -- Ashley Harkleroad and Vania King, were scheduled for night matches.
http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news?slug=ap-bauschlombchampionship&prov=ap&type=lgns
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. (AP) -- Venus Williams says she is physically fit and ready to regain the form that helped her win five grand slam singles titles.
Williams will play her first clay-court match of the year Tuesday in the first round of the Bausch & Lomb Championship. Williams -- who will play Aravane Rezai of France -- won the event in 2002 when she was ranked No. 1, beating Justine Henin in a three-set tiebreaker.
"I feel really good," Williams said. "I had a great tournament in Memphis and a great tournament in Miami (last week) although I would have liked to do better.
"Every tournament is important to me because I don't play as much as the next player so it's important for me to play well each time I play."
After finishing no worse than 11th in the WTA Tour season-ending rankings from 1998 through 2005, Williams finished No. 48 a year ago. A wrist injury has limited her to just one tournament this year -- the Regions Morgan Championship in Memphis, Tenn., in February.
Williams won that event, but it was a lower-level event on the WTA Tour's schedule.
"I'm very eager to get my ranking up but realize I have to wait and quite possibly have to play more tournaments," said Williams, who is ranked No. 32. "Or I have to stay in there and win the big tournaments like (sister) Serena.
"I just have to be patient ... but I want it tomorrow," she said.
If Williams gets by Rezai, she'll meet No. 4 seed Patty Schnyder in the second round.
Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain was the only seeded player to lose in the first day of action of the $600,000 tournament, the first clay-court event on the season. Garrigues, the No. 14 seed, lost to Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, 7-6 (4), 6-2.
Sybille Bammer of Austria, the No. 13 seed, got a 6-3, 6-1 win over Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.
Two of the six American players in the tournament lost first-round matches. Jill Craybas was beaten by Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik 7-6 (6), 6-1 and Meghann Shaughnessy lost to Croatia's Karolina Sprem 6-4, 7-6 (5). The only American winner was Meilen Tu, who posted a 7-5, 6-1 win over Italy's Flavia Pennetta.
Two other American players -- Ashley Harkleroad and Vania King, were scheduled for night matches.
http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news?slug=ap-bauschlombchampionship&prov=ap&type=lgns
