Everything about Venus’ game was a little off, but it’s still tough to explain how she was so dominated in the first set. Only 14 times in 662 career matches has Williams lost a set at love.
It’s hard to say how much was expected from Williams even with her high seed. Clay is her least favorite surface, and she’s made only one French Open final, back in 2002, when she was beaten by her younger sister, Serena.
Her clay-court preparation for this major produced mediocre at best results. At Charleston, she won her opening match, but lost her next one in the Round of 16 to Sabine Lisicki. She did have a decent showing in Rome, reaching the semifinals before losing to World No. 1 Dinara Safina. But then she flopped in Madrid, coming off a bye to lose in the Round of 32 to Alisa Kleybanova.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion was playing for the third straight day. She lost the first set of her second-round match against Lucie Safarova on Wednesday before play was suspended because of darkness. Williams saved a match point and defeated Safarova on Thursday. Her first-round match also went three sets, but none of this I believe factored much if at all in her performance against Szavay.
