From The State: Venus' title defense goes terribly awry
Although Venus Williams termed her performance “a comedy of errors,” presumably of the unforced variety, there was little doubt about the identity of the better player, at least for a day, on Thursday.
Tatiana Golovin, the No. 13 seed at the Family Circle Cup, upset Williams, the fourth seed and defending champion, in straight sets during Thursday’s round of 16, winning 7-5, 6-4.
“Well, she’s definitely a good player,” Williams said. “But I don’t think she, you know, just came out there and beat me. I just kept making error after error. It was a comedy of errors.”
Williams said she was tired and out of sync, and few would have disagreed after watching Golovin — who had beaten one top-10 player in her career— pin Williams to the baseline and attack her forehand.
“I didn’t think she played that bad,” said Golovin, a 17-year-old Frenchwoman of Russian descent. “I didn’t give her a lot of second serves to return, and I really pressured her forehand, and I think that’s what really was the key.”
For Golovin, the match was something of a breakthrough. Coming off a season during which she made the fourth rounds at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in her first appearance at both events, Golovin established her credibility as a top-level player with a No. 27 world ranking at year’s end. But she had yet to prove herself as a top-10 caliber talent, and her victory against Williams could get her foot in the door.
“Throughout the past year, I’ve lost to (Anastasia) Myskina, to (Elena) Dementieva, all in three sets,” said Golovin, who plays No. 7 seed Nadia Petrova today. “It was really time for me to step it up, and I did that, so I’m just really proud of myself.”
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