Toronto, ON (My Sportsbook) - Wimbledon runner-up Venus Williams went by way of the upset Tuesday at the $2 million Rogers Cup. The third-seeded Venus rolled in the first set on Day 2 here before bowing out against Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 in second-round action on the hardcourts at Rexall Centre. The former world No. 1 Venus has now dropped two straight and three of her last four matches, including a third-round setback in Cincinnati last week. A pair of seeds avoided opening-round upsets, as No. 11 Serb Ana Ivanovic overcame Slovakian qualifier Magdalena Rybarikova 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 and No. 16 Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova handled Italian Sara Errani 6-4, 6-2. Ivanovic is a former world No. 1 and former French Open champ. Cibulkova was last year's Rogers Cup runner-up to Russian Dinara Safina, in Montreal. This U.S. Open tune-up shifts between Toronto and Montreal each year. Additional first-round wins came for Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano, Israeli Shahar Peer, Chinese Zheng Jie, Czech qualifier Lucie Safarova and Russian qualifier Alla Kudryavtseva. This week's top seed Safina was last week's Cincinnati runner-up to U.S. Open runner-up Jelena Jankovic. Safina is the reigning French Open and Aussie Open runner-up. This week's field also features Wimbledon, Aussie Open and U.S. Open champion Serena Williams and Jankovic. |
