Venus crashes out of Wuhan in three set epic

AFP/Wuhan

Garcia took the first set 6-4, only to suffer a 6-4 reverse in the second before clinching victory in more than two-and-a-half hours, in a tie-break which finished 8/6. She will now face Polish fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round. Williams, 34, arrived in Wuhan after losing the Quebec City tournament final to Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni last Sunday.

Elsewhere in the tournament, home favourite Xu Shilin was forced to retire from her match with American Alison Riske in the third set with the scores at 6-6. The 16-year-old wildcard was carried of with heatstroke after playing more than 2 hours 45 minutes in high temperatures in the central Chinese city. The Wuhan Open will reach its climax on September 27.

Nineteen of the top 20 players are attending the Premier WTA event, including Venus’s sister, world number one Serena Williams. Former No 1 Azarenka out for season with injury .Former world number one Victoria Azarenka pulled out of the Wuhan Open in China yesterday and said she will miss the rest of the season as she battles a foot injury.

The Belarussian has slid down the rankings to 25th after a year in which she has struggled with a left foot injury that caused her to sit out the French Open.

“Unfortunately I will not be competing in any tournaments for the remainder of the season,” she said on her Facebook page. “It has been a very tough year for me.”

The two-time Australian Open champion said she had been “pushing and pushing” in a bid to recover, “but that does not appear to be the best approach for me”. The 25-year-old was a wildcard entry at the Wuhan Open, a $2.4 million premier-ranking WTA event. Lucky loser Annika Beck of Germany has replaced her in the main draw.