Quick Exit for Venus Williams at Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia - Just as she was starting to show glimpses of returning to form, Venus Williams was let down by her serve and her concentration at crucial times and lost, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, to Ekaterina Makarova on Day 1 of the Australian Open on Monday.

Makarova, the No. 22 seed, upset Serena Williams in the fourth round here in 2012, but this time, she was comprehensively outplayed in the first set against Venus, dropping serve three times.

Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, had chances in the second set, too, missing a break-point opportunity that would have left her up by 4-2, and then serving three consecutive double faults after leading the ninth game, 40-30, surrendering a crucial break.

Williams, at 33 the second-oldest player in the tournament after Kimiko Date-Krumm, took some time out after the second set to change her zebra-striped dress and came back strongly, taking a 3-0 lead. But Makarova rallied again, and Williams's error count rose. She had 21 of her 56 unforced errors in the deciding set.

She has struggled with injuries and illness in recent seasons but reached the final of the WTA event in Auckland, New Zealand, to open the year and said after arriving at Melbourne Park that she was feeling better than she had in years.

'The last 12 months, I have had issues,' she said. 'But this year, I definitely am looking forward to having a good run and feeling well.'

That did not happen Monday.

'My level was a little bit too up and down. Obviously, my error count was a little high,' Williams said, adding of Makarova: 'I have to give her a lot of credit, though. She was very determined, played hard.'

It was only the second time in 14 appearances that Williams had lost in the first round at the Australian Open, where her best run remains a loss to her sister in the 2003 final.

'It was a really tough match to play someone like Venus in the first round; she is such a great player,' Makarova said, adding that at 3-0 down in the final set, 'I decided I had to fight for every point.'

She said, 'I just kept fighting, and I turned around the match.'

Makarova will meet another American in the second round: the qualifier Irina Falconi, who beat Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, 6-3, 6-1.

Li Na beat Ana Konjuh of Croatia, who at 16 is the youngest player in the tournament, by a score of 6-2, 6-0 in 61 minutes in the first round. That set up a meeting for Li with another 16-year-old in the next round, as Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, the reigning French Open and Wimbledon junior champion, defeated Date-Krumm, a 43-year-old Japanese veteran, in three sets.

Li, who lost finals to Victoria Azarenka last year and to Kim Clijsters in 2011, has advanced to at least the fourth round every year since 2010.

The No. 18-seeded Kirsten Flipkens, a Wimbledon semifinalist last year, was the first woman to advance when she beat Laura Robson of Britain, 6-3, 6-0. Flipkens made only four unforced errors against 32 by Robson, who was ranked 48th.

Also advancing on the women's side were No. 9 Angelique Kerber and No. 31 Daniela Hantuchova.

The eighth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka was the first man to make it through to the second round, advancing after just 15 games when Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan retired with an injured left leg. Wawrinka was leading, 6-4, 6-1, when Golubev quit after 65 minutes.

Other men who advanced included No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny; No. 32 Ivan Dodig, who beat his fellow Croatian Ivo Karlovic, 7-6 (8), 6-3, 7-6 (4); and the American Sam Querry, who defeated Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3).

'To win this match, in a tiebreak in the fourth set, gives me a ton of confidence,' said Querry, who had 47 winners and 24 aces.

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