Venus Williams Loses at US Open as Seeds Continue to Fall

Venus Williams got a rare opportunity Friday to show the up-and-down sides of her game in recent seasons - the dominant and the ugly, the power alternating with powerlessness. She did it in the third round of the United States Open, and all in the same match.

Against Sara Errani of Italy, a player Williams can overpower when she is on her game, Williams spent the first set spraying errors all over the court and struggled with her serve in a startling 0-6 loss. Then, in a complete pivot, Williams unleashed all of her power in a 6-0 second set that was as dominant as the first one was listless.

That set up a fascinating third set that would serve as the verdict on Williams's will and her stamina. She failed to serve out the set at 5-3 and lost in an unlikely and riveting tiebreaker.

The score looked like a typographical error: 6-0, 0-6, 7-6 (5). At nearly the same time, the qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia knocked out second-seeded Simona Halep of Romania on the Grandstand, and 17-year-old Belinda Bencic of Switzerland ousted sixth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany, blowing that quarter of the draw open.

For Errani, it was just another in a long line of overachieving performances at the Open, but this one was most unlikely. She had never beaten Williams in three previous meetings. In fact, she had never won more than three games in a set against her.

'It was a really tough match even though I won the first set, 6-0,' Errani said. 'She's a great player who won every time against me. I just had to fight and give it all I had no matter what the score was.'

The topsy-turvy first two sets morphed into an amazing third set, in which both players seemed to flinch, only to bounce back when they needed to, unfurling their best shots at the most opportune moments. Even in the tiebreaker, it looked as if Williams would dig out of another hole until Errani won the pivotal second-to-last point, slamming home a winner on an exchange at the net. She pounded in one last forehand for the final point and ran off the court hardly believing what had happened.

'I tried to keep going, not to think too much about the score,' Errani said.

While Errani's victory was surprising, it did not qualify as an upset. Errani is seeded 13th, while Williams was seeded 19th. Still, one formidable name was out.

Jelena Jankovic, the No. 9, has very quietly restored her hopes of winning this title, which had flagged in recent years with a series of early-round losses. Against Johanna Larsson of Sweden on Friday, Jankovic calmly shoved aside any thoughts of another early exit, polishing off her 6-1, 6-0 victory in a tidy 58 minutes.

'I feel hungry,' said Jankovic, who will next play Bencic, who is playing her first U.S. Open. 'I want to do well again. You know, I love playing the U.S. Open. I had a lot of deep rounds here. It's my favorite Grand Slam. I love the energy that this tournament has. The surface suits my game. The weather. I enjoy it.'

Jankovic's high water mark here came in 2008, when she reached the finals, only to lose to Serena Williams. Her first real chance to win was in 2006, when Jankovic was only 19. She reached the semifinals and had a 4-2 lead over Justine Henin in the second set after winning the first. But an argument with the chair umpire about a call led to a full-scale meltdown. She lost 10 straight games.

'At 19, I did not know what was going on,' she said. ' I had the whole match in my hand and I was thinking about celebrating and I'm going in the finals. Of course, at the time I was inexperienced. I didn't know what's happening. I was just a child, and I was playing so well, though. But now, of course, when I'm older, I appreciate it a lot more. I'm more aware of what's going on, what's happening. It's a different feeling.'

Back in 2007 and 2008, Jankovic popped in and out of the No. 1 ranking spot, despite never winning a Grand Slam title. She did not maintain that level of success, and in the ensuing years, dropped out of the Top 20. Only in the past two seasons has she climbed back up and started conjuring up thoughts of winning her favorite Grand Slam tournament.

'I still believe I can win this tournament,' she said. 'And maybe I will. We'll see.'

In the men's draw, No. 7 Grigor Dimitrov rolled in his match against Dudi Sela of Israel, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2. No. 20 Gaël Monfils routed Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia, 7-5, 6-3, 6-2. No. 18 Kevin Anderson, following up a five-set victory in his previous match, needed only four sets to oust Jerzy Janowicz of Poland, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.

Bernard Tomic defaulted before his match against No. 4 David Ferrer. Tomic said he has been battling a hip injury, in addition to having flulike symptoms.

'I was sick the last 10 days,' Tomic said, also referencing his hip injury. 'I did the best thing not to play. I don't want to muck around in that area. I have to see what's wrong. It's not good right now. It's painful.'

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