Venus Limps Out

Muscle injury forces retirement from third-round; Federer breezes past Xavier Malisse.

Venus Williams lasted just seven points in her third-round match on Friday at the Australian Open,forced to retire with the stomach and thigh muscle injury that she suffered two days earlier. After having lost the first game to Andrea Petkovic of Germany and trailing 30-0 in the second,Williams stretched to the right to return a serve,hit the ball and then cried out in pain,clutching toward her stomach on the right side.

It marked the first time that Williams has retired in a Grand Slam singles match.

Her right thigh was already heavily bandaged from the injury she sustained in the first set of her second-round match on Wednesday,when she managed to beat Sandra Zahlavova in three sets.

After the second-round match,she said the injury was in her psoas muscle,which flexes the hip and spinal column.

At the end,Williams waved to the Rod Laver Arena crowd,appearing to be on the verge of tears. She is the second Williams sibling to have her Australian Open affected by injury. Her younger sister,defending champion Serena,didnt even make it to Melbourne because of a foot injury.

Henin dumped

Earlier,Justine Henin departed the tournament a lot sooner than she did last year. No.1 seed Caroline Wozniacki is still around after beating Dominika Cibulkova 6-4,6-3. Henin,the 2010 finalist,was beaten by two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4,7-6 8 in the mild third-round upset,while Roger Federer,Novak Djokovic,Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova all advanced.

Federer was back to his vintage best,beating Xavier Malisse 6-3,6-3,6-1. While the defending champion also won in straight sets in his opening-round match against Lukas Lacko,he was extended to five tough sets against Gilles Simon in the second round,a near five-hour match that Federer said he was he relieved to survive.

Wozniacki8217;s lighter side

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Wozniacki set out to show the media she is neither dull nor boring. Id like to do this a little differently this time, a smiling Wozniacki informed reporters. The 20-year-old Danish world No.1 proceeded to,first,lightheartedly mock the media for asking boring questions that evoke boring answers.I find it quite funny,because I always get the same questions. So I8217;m just going to start. I know what you8217;re going to ask me already, she said,still smiling. Dennis Passa